SHOEBOXES packed full of Christmas gifts for disadvantaged children in other countries have been donated by the Melksham community.
Around 150 shoeboxes and nearly 500 woollen items – such as scarves, hats and toys – have been donated to Operation Christmas Child – a project that is run by relief charity Samaritan’s Purse.
One of the donation drop-off points for Melksham was at the Town Hall, and Melksham Town Council staff have been overwhelmed by the generosity of the community.
“The people of Melksham always answer the call!” said Jeff Mills on behalf of the Town Hall team. “It is brilliant to see people of all ages putting time, effort and care into preparing these gifts for kids less fortunate than us. All of the boxes were carefully looked after and were collected by a team of elves last Friday (26th November). Thank you to everyone who played their part in this year’s scheme. See you in 2022!”
The town council’s business & administration apprentice, Casey Andrew, who helped organise this year’s collection at the Town Hall, added, “It has been interesting organising the collection of Christmas boxes this year. We received about 150 finished boxes.
“A few people from town also knitted hundreds of hats, gloves and toys, which are also passed on to children in need – I was amazed by how many hats were knitted by hand, there were probably close to 500 in total!”
