Shoebox Project growing to meet demand
Annual campaign collects boxes filled with ‘luxuries’ for women
A small but mighty team of volunteers are looking to make the holidays a little happier for women going through a rough time in our community.
The Shoebox Project for Women campaign has officially launched for this season and organizers said their reach is growing alongside demand. Last year, more than 750 boxes full of life’s little luxuries were delivered to women living in shelters and accessing community services. It outgrew 2016’s total by 200.
“The demand just keeps growing,” said Debbie Swartz, one of the co-organizers for the St. Catharines campaign. “We’re growing to meet that demand.” In addition to sisters-in-law Debbie and Jenny Swartz, a third co-chair has come on board to help plan the annual collection campaign, Joy MaGarrey.
There have been other changes this year as well. For starters, the name has changed. Previously, it was called The Shoebox Project for Shelters. Now, shelters has been replaced with women.
“Women was included to make it more inclusive, to show that it was open to all women who needed it, not just those living in shelters,” said Debbie.
The premise remains the same: Community members are invited to donate shoeboxes filled with life’s simple luxuries, things that women might forgo when they’re experiencing tough times. Nail polish, lotions and creams, slippers, or bath bombs. Each box is filled with items valuing $50, and they are wrapped and distributed to women who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness. Last year the boxes were donated to
Abbey’s House, Community Care of St. Catharines and Thorold, Gillian’s Place, YWCA Niagara and RAFT. This year, they’ve added the Education Foundation of Niagara, Southridge Shelter, and Start Me Up Niagara as recipients.
“We’ve had many organizations reach out,” said Debbie, adding they’re hoping to see a similar growth in donations.
To help spread the word for this year’s campaign, Giant Shoe Creative Agency has volunteered its services. The content creators and media makers helped to design new posters for the campaign and are working with the co-chairs to film a video outlining this year’s process from start to finish.
“I really love the local impact that (The Shoebox Project) has, everything is generated locally,” said Brad Moore, Giant Shoe Creative CEO. “We want people to understand exactly what this is all about and how to get involved.”
Graphic designer Jess Boulay also came on board to offer her design services and assist with social media posts. She was a volunteer first, donating shoeboxes with friends over the years.
“This year, I realized I wanted to do something a bit more, so I looked up the Shoebox Project itself and reached out to Debbie,” she said. “I realized there’s a huge impact we can have for women in our community, women who need a little bit of lifting up and need to reach out to our community services. They need to feel special.”
Boulay will be throwing a shoebox party, inviting friends over to put together shoeboxes that will then be donated.
The Shoebox Project for Women will be out in the community this year too.
On Nov. 29, organizers will be at the Niagara IceDogs game collecting cash donations at the three entrances and there will be a drop-off table set up in the main foyer where people can donate items to go in shoeboxes.
Donations can be dropped off at various locations across Niagara until Dec. 8.
The annual shoebox party returns to the Real Canadian Superstore’s Community Room on Dec. 9 from noon to 2 p.m. This marks the end of the campaign and is when volunteers come together to put the boxes together and organize the distribution that takes place in the following days.
For a complete list of drop-off locations and more information about needed items, visit shoeboxproject.com/ st-catharines.html.