Alison Murphy, co-ordinator of the Team Hope Christmas Shoebox Appeal, at the warehouse in Forest Park, Mullingar, donated for use by Gerry Reddin of Bennett Construction.

Team Hope help for thousands

A total of 7,412 children in Lesotho, Africa, will receive gifts this Christmas because of the generosity of the people of Mullingar and Longford.

Alison Murphy, co-ordinator of the Team Hope Christmas Shoebox Appeal Mullingar and Longford, says the number of shoeboxes increases every year by 500. “The shoeboxes go to underprivileged children, and children in orphanages. In Lesotho they have a lot of ‘shepherd boys’ that can be out on the fields as young as five minding sheep,” says Alison, who has been co-ordinating the Team Hope appeal for 17 years.

Alison, who takes two weeks leave to organise the sorting, says a “mountain” of shoeboxes left the Mullingar warehouse on Wednesday last week for Lesotho.

“We’ve been collecting shoeboxes from preschools, national schools and secondary schools and different organisations and individuals from Mullingar and Longford. It’s nice to let people know where their boxes are going because so many people hand them in to our drop-off points, Fagan Toymaster, Dealz and Axa Insurance, and they wonder what happens then.

“Really what I want to do is thank everyone who donated, and the volunteers who helped the packing and sorting.”

There are many examples of the kind-heartedness that exists locally, for instance, the community of Rochfortbridge which raised money and in doing so, were able to make up 800 shoeboxes. “Mary Quirke in Rochfortbridge is an amazing woman,” says Alison. “She promotes the appeal all year and she’s got people knitting hats for her, dropping bits and pieces into her. This year they raised funds for the two-four-year-olds because they heard we were low on shoeboxes for that age.

“We also had nearly 100 boxes from Shay Murtagh’s in Raharney, and they also paid for the postage because every box costs €4 to send.

“Local schoolchildren go home with leaflets and prepare boxes over the Halloween break, and give €4 for postage. Schools like Loughegar really embrace the whole thing. Principal Niall Brennan always does an amazing display and this year he did drone photograph of the children to resemble the Team Hope Candle.

“We start collecting in November. So in the first three weeks of November we collected a total of 7,412.

“We also want to thank the people who check the boxes, to make sure they’re safe and age appropriate. That takes place in the warehouse in Forest Park, donated by Gerry Reddin from Bennett Construction, which allows us to pull the whole thing together every year.”

Alison has a team of about a dozen, and at collection and sorting time, they drop in and out for morning and evening shifts.

“The shoeboxes are packed into cartons for shipping and this year we had 860 cartons on the lorry.

“Everyone’s a volunteer, people just give up their time to help. I take two weeks annual leave to do this every year but it’s very worthwhile,” says Alison who works for the HSE’s equipment store on the Delvin Road.

“I’ve been out on the distribution trips delivering the shoeboxes abroad and seen that it makes such a difference to the children. They don’t receive a shoebox every year, for many of them it’s the first time they’ve ever received a gift in their lives.

“We are giving them things as simple as school supplies so they can stay in school; and hygiene items. They are so delighted to get a new toothbrush and toothpaste and a bar of soap because they wash their clothes with it, they wash their bodies with it, they’ve no baths or showers, so they’re delighted to get something as simple as a bar of soap.

“We always make sure that they have things like hats and gloves because even in Africa it is really cold at night in the winter. And we always make sure that there’s something for them to play with like a cuddly toy or something. That’s why we have to make sure that every box is checked because if people don’t include those things we add extras.”

Get involved

Contact Alison on 087 6894597. “The team meet once a month as we plan all year round and buy things as we go along, and we do fundraising all year round. I’m just so grateful to people who give up their time – it is two weeks of hard work but it’s worth it.”