This year, the Santa Shoebox Project celebrates its 10th birthday, having distributed more than 550 000 personalised shoeboxes to children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds across South Africa and Namibia. More than 50% of those shoeboxes reached children in far flung rural areas.
To celebrate this milestone, the 2016 theme “More Than Just a Shoebox” is two-fold. Not only will the child receive personalised gifts, but they will come with a sense of self-worth, presenting the child with the promise of a better education, improved hygiene and dental health, and those simple things that every child should enjoy, sweets and a toy.
The following 10 items are required to complete a Santa Shoebox: Standard sized shoebox, colourfully decorated; barcoded label which the donor will receive upon pledging online; toothbrush; toothpaste; facecloth; soap; toy; outfit of clothing; stationery; sweets. Please note that all items must be age-appropriate and new.
To participate in the Santa Shoebox Project, visit the website by September 1 to register as a donor and select the name and age of a child to make a shoebox for. The gift wrapped Santa Shoeboxes need to be dropped off at central distribution points in October. A list of drop-off locations and dates can be found at here.
