Wexford Grandmother's huge shoebox effort for kids in poverty

A grandmother who created 1,000 Christmas shoebox gifts for children living in poverty is hoping her efforts can this year push a charity’s total present haul over the three-million mark. Team Hope has so far delivered 2.8 million shoebox gifts packed by Irish families for kids in Africa and Eastern Europe – and aims to cross the milestone to mark its 15th anniversary. While many are caught in the grip of Halloween celebrations, Wexford woman Maureen O’Hanlon is putting the final touches to this year’s batch of 100 festive boxes. In the last decade, she has put together 1,000 shoeboxes - and has some extra help this year in the form of her granddaughter Anna, six. “She lives just beside me and calls it Santa’s workshop because I start for the following year as soon as the shoebox gifts have been sent away,” said Maureen from her home in Campile, outside New Ross. The retired teacher tightly packs each box with items she gathers in the January sales and throughout the year, making sure each one has copy books, colouring pencils, pens and sweets. Her local Lidl supermarket in New Ross supplies her with packets of sweets for each box every year and she picks up items such as soap, toothpaste, face cloths and hair scrunchies when she’s out and about. Some neighbours and friends, as well as her son Michael and partner John Monahan, are also involved in the massive effort, which involves not only gathering and packing the items, but transporting the finished boxes to Team Hope’s Wexford depot.“I think of the children all the time and I try to make sure that no child will be disappointed when they open their box,” said Maureen, who began making shoeboxes with pupils during her time at Rathgarogue National School and later, Scoil Mhuire, Horeswood. “I was brought up in a generation where I hate to see waste so I recycle as much as I can and pick up things in charity shops. “The attic is chaotic. On one side I have all the shoeboxes – I have 65 already filled – and on the other, I have plastic storage containers with all the items from flip flops to knitted hats and T-shirts. “I’m very lucky. I’ve lived a very privileged life, and I have the time. Why not use it for something useful?” Team Hope CEO, Deborah Lowry, is urging families, schools and communities to join the charity’s bid to generate the three millionth shoebox this year. “Often packed by children for children, they carry not only toys and treats but also the invisible gifts of love and hope,” she said. “That kindness, travelling across oceans, reminds a child that they are not forgotten – that someone, somewhere cares. “In a world which often highlights what is broken, the Christmas Shoebox Appeal stands as a powerful demonstration that it is also filled with kindness.” To get involved, see www.teamhope.ie.