REGISTRATIONS FOR THE 2010 SHOEBOX APPEAL ARE NOW OPEN 

We are extremely grateful for every single shoebox that came through our door - all 46,755.  We are always amazed that people take such time and trouble to fill a shoebox for a family that they will never meet.  Or perhaps sometimes they do.  Please read the story below that has just been recieved from Paul & Edna Jarvis

"Dear Link Romania

Just a short note to pass on to you the impact your appeal has had to one family in a small village near Deva in Hunedora.We sent a shoebox through your appeal in 2002 and we put our name & address inside together with a couple of photos of us and our cat. To our surprise and delight we recieved a letter from a 13 year old girl,Vasilica who had been given the box.

She told us a little about her mother and father and her brother and that she had learned English at her village school. We have constantly kept in touch and in 2006 I travelled to Romania to visit. As I arrived Vasilica ran from her 4th floor flat to hug me. I met the whole family and realised how poor this family were, a small 1 bedroom flat, the mother and father slept on the settee whilst Vasilica (now 16)and her 15 year old brother shared the only bedroom.

In 2007 we learned that Vasilica had won the opportunity to go to the High School in Deva, about 30 km away. She could not go, because the family had no money to pay the accomodation charges. Whilst we are not rich, we decided to try to help and with a little adjustment to our lives we were able to provide the required money for her to attend. In the last 3 years she has achieved great success in her studies, and as her brother also won the opportunhity the following year to attend, he was also able to go as he could share the accomodation.

In June this year she completed her exams, gaining 4 Diplomas for achieving 100% in some of her subjects, therefore giving her some chance of gaining employment.

As a present we had arranged for her to travel to England for a brief holiday as my wife had not met her in person. Unfortunately, this story has a sad end, 2 weeks before she was due to travel, the car in which she was travelling was involved in a fatal collision and all 4 young occupants were killed.

I travelled back to Romania on 14th August (09) to visit her family and attend the Parastas (a type of memorial service). This was the most moving experience of my life. We will continue to support her brother until he completes his education and do whatever we can for the parents. Despite the tragic outcome, just from a simple shoebox through your appeal, the lives of 2 families have been improved beyond recognition. We are so happy that we found you and this proves the value of the work you do.

We will again be contributing towards this years appeal.

Thanks for all of your work"

Paul & Edna Jarvis

Norwich

Norfolk

For those that don't know the Link Romania Family Shoebox Appeal has been in existence since 1992 and has brought happiness and hope to many thousands of people over the years. It's a really simple idea and anyone in the UK can pack up a shoebox to send as a Christmas gift to a desperately poor family in Eastern Europe. Over the years, we have sent in excess of 450,000 shoeboxes to over 80 different locations.

These boxes are given to poor families many of whom do not have running water, heating or electricity.  Some live in terrible conditions and struggle to survive.  No one is interested in them except for us and we want to show we love and care for them  One way is to wade through the mud to their ‘houses’ and give them a shoebox at Christmas. We cannot explain to you how much they are appreciated. See the 2009 Delivery Diary for the latest report.                                             

 We invite everyone to fill a shoebox with Christmas gifts for a needy family. We transport the boxes to various depots, where they are distributed to all sorts of locations, from remote villages, to hospital wards, to charity kindergartens and shanty towns. Shoeboxes are taken by horse and cart, often in snow and on the mud roads that are still very much a feature of the countryside!

We do emphasise that our Shoeboxes are for a family.  The need is just as great whether aged 8 or 80.  The families that we give shoeboxes too generally live in one or two rooms together in the same house – Parents, children, grandparents and sometimes aunt, uncles and cousins too so we want each member of the family to have a gift not only the children. See What To pack.

Link Romania is delighted to have teamed up with Kumon Educational UK. As part of their corporate social responsibility programme, leading education provider Kumon will be encouraging their large student base to get behind the 2009 Family Shoebox Appeal to help disadvantaged people in some of the poorest parts of Eastern Europe www.kumon.co.uk

Students from over 600 Kumon study centres across the UK and Ireland will be encouraged to donate a shoe box filled with items that will be sent to needy families and children in Romania, Moldova and Albania whose lives are blighted by poverty and poor living conditions.

It's Not Us!

You may have seen some negative press about certain other shoebox appeals and we would like to assure you that we are an entirely separate organisation, with our own printed material, nationwide network of collectors, etc.

We DO NOT:

• Employ professional fund-raisers with a hard-sell approach to the appeal
• Although we are a Christian organisation we do not add any Christian (or other) literature to the Shoeboxes  
• We do not take liquids or anything else out of your boxes.  If a box is particularly light we do carefully open it and add a few more items but this is rare as we generally get such good boxes given to us.
• We do not distribute Shoeboxes according to the recipient's ethnic origin or faith, only their need