Shoebox couple blown away at appeal success
Fort William-based Blythswood Care Coordinators Barbara and Kenny Mathieson are thanking their supporters and contributors after the 2020 Shoebox appeal ran by the national charity was declared a roaring success despite Covid-19 restrictions.
With the last lorry leaving a sorting station in Chatham, Kent on December 15, bound for Romania, the charity has sent 75,218 gift-filled boxes to eight countries in Eastern Europe this year.
Five hundred and 31 of those were produced and sent from Fort William.
‘We want to thank everyone who has made that possible,’ said Barbara, who along with husband Kenny has been producing charity shoe boxes for the past 30 years. ‘We were absolutely blown away by the effort everyone put in this year despite the restrictions.
‘All our sorting processes and collections took place in lockdown and all the Blythswood staff and volunteers, as well as members of our own community up here in Fort William, have showed incredible commitment to ensure that people in need will receive these gifts.’
Fourteen lorry-loads were sent to Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Kosovo, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine, where the gifts are being distributed in hospitals, orphanages, care homes, low-income communities and to homeless people.
Blythswood’s head of projects, Finlay Mackenzie added: ‘This year these gifts are more important than ever. So many people in these countries have been hit by loss of jobs and loss of income remitted from other parts of Europe.’
One of the first boxes to be handed out this winter went to four-year-old Ismedin, in Gjakova, Kosovo, where 11 members of his extended family occupy a single-roomed dwelling.
Barbara added: ‘These gifts mean so much to the families who receive them. One little girl was asked what she liked best about her box and she said “the smell of the soap”.
‘We have a group of ladies who knit everything from small hats to blankets as well as people who contribute sweets and games. We also have a very special lady, Mrs Mary MacMillan, who has been doing shoe boxes for years. This year she covered and filled more than 100 boxes herself. Without people like them we wouldn’t be able to do what we do and we are extremely grateful to everyone.’
For more information and to see videos of the families receiving their boxes visit blythswood.org.