Christmas Shoebox Appeal FAQ

Building a Shoebox has never been easier! You can either build your box at home or online.

To build your box at home you’ll need to wrap a shoebox in colourful paper, fill it with items for a child and then drop it off at one of our many drop off points. We also request a donation of €4 to cover the costs associated with getting your box to a child.

Or if you’d prefer, you can build your box online and we’ll do the work for you. You can use the fun box builder to select the items you’d like to see in a box, donate €20 and we’ll ensure that a box full of lovely gifts gets to child!

You can team up with family, friends, neighbours or colleagues to try to raise as many boxes, and help as many children, as possible! You can order promotional materials such as leaflets and posters here or you can download our digital leaflet here.

We like to ensure that every shoebox is filled with items from the 4W’s – something to Wash with, something to Write with, something to Wear and something to make a child go Wow! If you’re filling your box at home we have lots of ideas of things to include on our website and social media! We ask you not to include scary or war related items, liquids, large clothes or food (other than sweets!); you can find a list of things to include and things not to include here.

If you’ve donated your box online Team Hope will ensure that it is filled with items from the 4W’s. You can use the fun box builder to select the items you’d like to see in a box before donating €20 and we’ll ensure that a box full of lovely gifts gets to child!

This year it is ok to include new reusable masks in shoeboxes, but please do not include hand sanitiser as we cannot take liquids.

The deadline to get your boxes to us is Tuesday 15^th November

Team Hope will be celebrating Christmas Shoebox Appeal Week from 31st October – 6th November, where everyone will be encouraged to build as many boxes as possible and share their updates on social media using #MakeAChildSmile, #ChristmasShoeboxAppeal and #EveryShoeboxCounts. Ahead of this week, which is the midterm break, schools will be encouraged to take part in lessons around the Appeal, showing the impact of a shoebox and the importance of giving.

The final date that shoeboxes can be donated online is 23rd December 2022 – but the sooner you can purchase your Christmas Shoebox online the quicker Team Hope can arrange for them to be delivered!

Sometimes it can be difficult to find a used Shoebox to send your gifts in, so Team Hope, have developed Flat Pack Shoeboxes to save you the hassle of hunting them out – and wrapping them!

Flat Pack Shoeboxes are unavailable for sale in Dealz this year, we look forward to their expected return to stores in 2023!

Team Hope is able to facilitate bulk orders of Flat Pack Shoeboxes online in bundles of 50. If you’d like to buy a large quantity of flat pack shoeboxes to fill together with your business, church, school, club, local community or extended family. If you are interested please contact Alan McElwee amcelwee@teamhope.ie

You can follow the latest news and updates from Team Hope on:
Facebook at www.facebook.com/team.hope.ireland
Twitter at @TeamHopeIreland
Instagram at @TeamHopeIreland

Or using the campaign hashtags

 #MakeAChildSmile
#ChristmasShoeboxAppeal

#EveryShoeboxCounts

If you want to donate online you will be able to build-a-box choosing items from the 4W’s that you would like to add into your ‘ideal’ box. These gifts are based on Team Hope Christmas Shoebox Appeal’s 4Ws – Wash, Write, Wear and Wow.

When purchasing a shoebox online, you can also personalise your shoebox by uploading a picture or image. There are some worksheets which you can download and print to help share a little about yourself with the recipient of your box. Once you’ve completed your shoebox donation you’ll receive an email with a link to upload a photo or scan of your worksheets. Team Hope will send these to our partners to print and put into a Shoebox.

There are over 400 drop off locations across the country, in particular all Dealz stores, First Stop and Toymaster branches around Ireland. A full list of all our drop off points are available here .

Yes, there are lots of ways you can donate to make a box. This year we’re encouraging everyone to take part in whatever way they can. This could be through getting together with friends to make boxes together, helping promote the Appeal or running a fundraiser to make online boxes. Any donation, no matter how small will help us get as many boxes as possible. Feel free to get in touch with us if you’d like to get involved or make a donation but aren’t sure how!

Yes please! We have up to 50 volunteer teams across the country who are active between mid-September to early December. They are often looking for more help to promote the Appeal or to collect and check the shoeboxes.  You can find details of your local coordinator on this page (link) or email info@teamhope.ie – we look forward to hearing from you!

Team Hope works with trusted locally-based partners in the countries where shoeboxes are delivered, many of which we have been working with for many years. Once you have dropped off your box at a drop off point, our Irish volunteers will check it for any items that shouldn’t be included before packing them onto trucks or in shipping containers where they are sent directly to our partners in recipient countries to distribute.

For boxes donated online Team Hope’s partners will purchase items in the countries in which they work and assemble boxes to give to children. Team Hope will endeavour to ensure gift items selected online are purchased. However, in some cases due to local needs or availability, this may not be exactly possible.

Team Hope has clear guidelines for distributing shoeboxes which include requirements for partners to report in detail on the distribution of shoeboxes and the funds spent to create them.

For boxes donated at our drop offs we request a donation of €4. This donation goes towards the cost of making the whole Shoebox Appeal programme happen, including promotion, transport and delivering your box to each child. With increased costs this year, especially for transporting boxes, your €4 is very important.

For boxes donated online, your €20 covers the purchase of shoebox contents, based on the 4W’s – items to Wash, Write, Wear and Wow, as well as helping to cover the costs mentioned above.

If there are any surplus funds, they are used for Team Hope’s on-going development work with children, their families and communities. Details of this work alongside Team Hope’s annual audited accounts can be found here.

After you drop off your box it will be collected by one of our local volunteer teams. Our volunteers check all the shoeboxes to make sure there are no unsafe or inappropriate items and afterwards seal them with Team Hope tape – the next time they will be opened is by a child! They are then cartoned and loaded onto trucks to be sent to a country in Africa or Eastern Europe where our local partners will give it straight into the hands of a child.

Team Hope seeks to honour the donor in all circumstances and as a result does not split up boxes unless in extremely exceptional circumstances (i.e. the box is simply too large to send!).

Shoeboxes are given to children, aged 2-14 years, in Africa and Eastern Europe.

Shoeboxes are given to children who are most vulnerable. In many cases this means children who are living in poverty. These are identified with the help of charities, local churches or with the help of the local government.

 Criteria used to identify vulnerable children includes:

• Children from families affected by poverty (i.e. low income or unemployed households)
• Children from single parent families, or with ill parents
• Children with no living parents
• Children living with disabilities or illness
• Children from ethnic or social groups facing discrimination
• Children living in institutions (e.g. orphanages, groups homes etc.)

If your child’s school is doing the Christmas Shoebox Appeal but you’d rather donate a box online, your receipt email will contain a link to a colouring sheet which can be printed and brought in to show their class.

In our most recent audited accounts for 2021/22, 95% of Team Hope’s expenditure was spent on direct charitable activities and the remaining 5% covered support costs, governance and the cost of raising funds.

Team Hope, like many other organisations, has been motivated to help others based on the beliefs in the Christian tradition, which are compassion, social justice and the inherent value and dignity of all people. In line with these beliefs, we ensure that shoeboxes are given to children based on need alone, regardless of race, religion, political affiliation etc., and with nothing asked for in return.

There is no risk of COVID-19 to a child receiving a shoebox from the contents. All shoeboxes sent from Ireland will be in transit longer then the virus can survive on surfaces. Our in-country partners act within local guidance to ensure distribution events are COVID safe.

In Ireland, we have guidelines for all our volunteers in checking centres and collecting boxes to ensure we remain in line with government guidelines and keep everyone safe.