Santa Shoebox Project

In 2009 a friend told me about the Santa Shoebox Project. What appealed to me was not only that our family would be able to contribute towards this amazing project, but also the sentiment behind the project, which aims to teach children the joy of giving. It's all about kids giving to kids.

So with great gusto, in 2009, I logged onto the Santa Shoebox website and that was when our own Paulson tradition began, and my children became part of what has become a massive movement to provide underprivileged children with boxes of goodies at Christmas time. I haven't told my kids that they have to be involved because they have loads of toys - and are going to receive so many more before the year is over, or that they need to remember that there are children 'out there' who don't have toys, or parents, or people to share the excitement of Christmas with - it's not a guilt trip, it's all just been about the pleasure of preparing a gift for another child. J was not even a year old in October 2009 when we packed our first boxes, but E was 3 and able to understand enough to be a little excited about the project itself. The fun then was mostly in the decorating of the boxes. When you register to pledge a box, the website provides you with a list of homes the children are from, as well as the ages and names of the children you can give a box to. So I always choose two little girls, the same ages as E and J. Being able to personalise the boxes makes it easier for the girls to relate and we can call the children by their names as we shop for goodies for them. In 2010 E was more excited than she had been the year before and was able to do more herself to decorate the boxes. This year she really has been instrumental in helping me choose the gifts, she has an incredible memory and pays attention to everything around her, and she has made sure that we have chosen the correct gifts, and left nothing out. J has done her bit too and chosen-with-my-help the gifts for the little girl she refers to as her friend. And so the gift of giving begins...


Our 2009 boxes

The Santa Shoebox Project is only one project that falls under an organisation called Kidz2Kidz - it's an inspiring community initiative that co-ordinates the donation, collection and distribution of personalised gifts at Christmas time to underprivileged children. This project has grown phenomenally from a humble 180 boxes in 2006 to 32000 boxes in 2010! With the target for this year being 70 000 boxes! With 13 500 boxes yet to be pledged to reach that target, and only 10 days to go before drop off begins, there's a lot to be done, but with 4 166 boxes pledged today alone, that target is within reach.

There is something about this project that this is extremely special. I think that, as humans, we have some kind of innate desire to give. Think of a child who runs out into the garden to pick a flower for her mom - she'll run up to her mom, and with a smile as huge as the moon on her flushed little face, she'll reach up and hand over the flower - with no expectation, other than the happiness her mom will show. There is a joy in giving that doesn't have to be learned and I believe that we all want to be able to give - but most of the time we don't know how or where, and that is why this initiative has become so incredibly successful - and why other initiatives like the 94.7 Christmas Wish List is the same - you know, the one that, each November, leaves us tough Joburgers crying like babies every morning in our cars on the way to work - wiping our noses on the back of our hands and sympathetically nodding, and proudly grinning, to the person in the car next to us who also has tears dripping off the end of his/her chin!

It's all in the joy of giving!

If you are keen to pledge a box/es, you can go to the Santa Shoebox website here and register as a donor. This year Pep Stores has come on board and is operating as a one stop shop where you can purchase ALL the goodies you need to fill a box. There are, as is with anything in life, rules to filling the boxes. These rules are there for various reasons;

a) so that a little girl standing next to her friend isn't disappointed when she opens her box to find one toy and a toothbrush, while her friend's box is filled with all of the goodies required,

b) because some of these kids come from desperately harsh backgrounds and giving them toy knives and guns, or a bottle of Ponal glue just isn't what they need, and
c) because the people behind the campaign really do know what it is that these children need, and long for.

So, here's the list:
Tooth paste and tooth brush
Bar of soap and a wash cloth
An outfit of clothing
Educational supplies
Sweets
A toy

Simple, isn't it! Yet such simple items will provide so much joy to a child. And, in fact, I'll be packing similar boxes this year to give to our own children.

It's fun, it's important, it's necessary, it teaches our own children a valuable lesson - and it's Christmas - almost! :-)

The packing and the decorating begins in earnest in the Paulson home this weekend.

I'll be volunteering at the West Rand drop off venue on Saturday 29 October, if you're there please come and say hello. If you want to pledge a box but don't want to / can't get to the drop off point, then make a plan to get the box to my office or my home before Friday 28 October, and I'll drop it off for you.

Remember that this is a nationwide campaign, in fact it's reached beyond our borders to Namibia and Botswana, so just because you don't live in Jozi doesn't mean you can't participate.

Thanks for reading
xx