Shoe Box collection 2015
For the eighth year in succession, members of the Rotary Club of Cranleigh have been helping to bring smiles to the faces of hundreds of disadvantaged children and families at Christmas by supporting the collection of shoe boxes for Romania.
The students of Glebelands Secondary School, St Cuthbert Mayne Primary, Cranleigh Church of England Primary, Cranleigh Preparatory School and Park Mead Primary School once again surpassed themselves, donating more than 640 shoe boxes filled with Christmas gifts.
Rotary President Tom Cornwell also arranged an extra collection from Longacre School in Shamley Green. The total was further increased by contributions from Oakwood Business Consultants, the Methodist Church and the Challenger magazine.
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Glebelands School students alone brought in 270 shoe boxes filled with toys, sweets, stationery and other goodies. The pupils of Cranleigh Church of England Primary School also surpassed themselves by amassing a magnificent 178 shoe boxes.
The collection was organised by members of St Nicolas Church and Cranleigh Rotarians who contacted the schools, collected and sorted the shoe boxes, then helped to load them onto a lorry at a warehouse in West Cranleigh Nurseries, which was kindly made available by Nic Vrijland, an Honorary Member of the Cranleigh Rotary Club.
The shoe boxes were delivered to Romania and given to orphans and other deprived or disabled children who live in and around the old Romanian steel town of Hunedoara and who have few, if any, other presents at Christmas.
David Gill, International Chairman for the Cranleigh Rotary Club, thanked all of the schools and students for once again donating such a huge number of "little boxes of happiness", as one pupil described them.
Photo caption: Students of Glebelands School with Headteacher Anne Hutchinson and some of their shoe boxes.