‘Filling shoeboxes makes me tearful’

Stospley mum Valerie Mitchell with her lovingly filled shoebox

Published on 25/10/2012 17:00

Stopsley mum Valerie Mitchell freely admits her eyes mist over when she starts filling shoeboxes with presents for underprivileged children.

The 49-year-old Hawthorn Avenue housewife – a long-time supporter of the Operation Christmas Child campaign in the Herald&Post – said: “I’d just love to see their faces when they open the boxes.

“It would be nice to write a letter but I don’t suppose they’d understand.”

Valerie confessed she feels like a child herself, choosing the gifts that will go in the boxes.

“I get so excited,” she said. “I buy a couple each week when we’re down the town, then my husband Jeffrey does the packing and wrapping.

“We always do a box for a child of nine to 14 – I wouldn’t know what to buy anyone younger.

“We felt guilty only doing one last year, so this year we’ve done two.”

If you’d like to take part in our annual appeal for needy children in the Third World, you’ve still got three week until the deadline on Friday, November 16.

You can pick up a pamphlet at our office at Media House, 39 Upper George Street, or visit www.samaritans-purse.org.uk

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‘Filling shoeboxes makes me tearful’

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