Leading children’s charity the Samaritans Purse took over a warehouse in Pucklechurch as the lynchpin of this year’s Operation Christmas Child initiative – aimed at delivering an articulated lorry load of goodies to needy children in Eastern Europe and beyond.
Landlords SEGRO and agents Colliers International stepped in to provide the charity with a warehouse to handle the massive logistical effort which resulted in more than 15,000 shoeboxes full of goodies being sent out to children in Kyrgyzstan and Belarus.
Samaritans Purse organiser Jenny Lippiat said they could not have coordinated the Bristol-wide collection without the warehouse – base for up to 150 people gave up their time to sort and pack the shoeboxes for shipment to Eastern Europe.
The boxes – packed by schools, churches and business across Bristol, Clevedon and Weston-super-Mare – have been filled with toys and other goodies for children aged between two and fourteen.
Jenny said: “Trying to collect and collate all these boxes without a suitably sized base to operate from would be next to impossible.
“Once again Segro and Colliers International pulled out all the stops for us to ensure this massive aid effort gets to its destination.”
Packed onto an articulated lorry the boxes were dispatched this weekend on the first leg of their sea, rail and road journey to Belarus in Eastern Europe and Kyrgyzstan on the borders of China and Pakistan.
The largest children’s Christmas appeal in the UK, Operation Christmas Child encourages people to pack a shoebox with small, inexpensive gifts suitable for a boy or girl in three age bands.
Jenny said: “We are hoping the shoeboxes will be delivered some time in February but this is a very long journey and we remain at the mercy of the rail network in Eastern Europe to get the boxes to their final destination.
“The response we have had has been brilliant considering we are in the third year of a recession. The aim is to bring a little happiness to children in these hard-pressed areas rather than deliver any church message as the boxes are delivered to children no matter what religion.”
Tom Watkins from Colliers International’s Bristol office, which markets the Pucklechurch trading estate with Jones Lang Lasalle on behalf of SEGRO, helped coordinate the charity effort.
He said: “We were delighted to help track down a storage facility large enough to help the charity mount this crucial aid mission. Once again we have seen people from the whole community come together to help from collecting the shoeboxes to seeing them packed up and then dispatched.”
