Banbury's annual Operation Christmas Child shoebox is underway and taking donations

Operation Christmas Child organiser Eunice Harradine with a previous years collections of shoeboxes.

The annual Banbury appeal for people to fill shoeboxes with gifts for less fortunate children from around the world has begun.

The Operation Christmas Child shoebox appeal is taking donations of shoeboxes filled with gifts at The Peoples Church in Horse Fair, The Entertainer in Castle Quay, and Magenta Storage on 2 Brookhill Way in Banbury until Monday, November 21.

Donors can bring their shoeboxes between 9am and 12.30pm every weekday and for people who are not able to make one of the drop-off locations there is an option to build a shoebox online for £20, which will be made up by a volunteer and sent with other donated shoebox gifts.

Eunice Harradine has been organising the Banbury shoebox collections for almost 20 years and has seen the campaign bring joy to many millions of children from around the world.

Eunice said: “This year our national goal is to send two-thirds of shoeboxes from the UK to Ukraine and the neighbouring countries that are hosting many Ukrainian refugee families.

"Since the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine, thousands of Operation Christmas Child gifts have been distributed to children in the region by our local church partners, but we want to bless many more in need.

"The rest of the gift boxes will go to Central Asia, the Middle East and west Africa.

"In some cases, the gifts we send are life changing, as in some countries children cannot attend school unless they provide their own stationery.”

To find out more information about the campaign or to build a shoebox online, visit shoeboxonline.samaritans-purse.org.uk/goal-pages/93f3bfc4.