Blythswood News
Number 92
Your Gifts are a Blessing
Thank you for filling shoeboxes last year. I see them come into our warehouse and sorting stations, where Christian literature is added, then packed in larger cartons to protect them as they travel. The next time I see them, they will have arrived in Europe, where I’m with a local partner distributing shoeboxes to the poorest people in the community. Sometimes I get to hand them over. When we can, we stay around for a little while to see people open their boxes.
It’s lovely when there’s an instant reaction to a toy or a pencil, when a child starts playing. Older people tend to inspect their boxes, replace the lid and take them away. But they especially appreciate the gifts. It’s humbling to think that a 38-year-old woman who couldn’t afford personal hygiene products received her first one in a shoebox.
Please do fill a shoebox, or as many as you can, this year. Our partners bring these practical gifts and the gospel message to the poorest in their communities, to people who are unlikely to receive anything else at Christmas.
If, for any reason, you’re not able to find a shoebox and gather the gifts to put into it, then there’s another way you can help. For £28 – the approximate value of goods in a shoebox filled in the UK – our partners in Pakistan are able to buy essential items, pack them in a Box of Blessing and deliver them to people in great need. The difference in costs between there and here means that two boxes can be filled for the cost of one in the UK, so two people benefit from each £28 received in our online Shoe Box Appeal.
Your time and effort in putting shoeboxes together and your donations to send them on their way are a great blessing. Thank you for supporting Blythswood’s 2026 Shoe Box Appeal.
Jeremy Ross
Chief Executive
Your Gifts are a Blessing
Thank you for filling shoeboxes last year. I see them come into our warehouse and sorting stations, where Christian literature is added, then packed in larger cartons to protect them as they travel. The next time I see them, they will have arrived in Europe, where I’m with a local partner distributing shoeboxes to the poorest people in the community. Sometimes I get to hand them over. When we can, we stay around for a little while to see people open their boxes.
It’s lovely when there’s an instant reaction to a toy or a pencil, when a child starts playing. Older people tend to inspect their boxes, replace the lid on and take them away. But they especially appreciate the gifts. It’s humbling to think that a 38-year-old woman who couldn’t afford personal hygiene products received her first one in a shoebox.
Please do fill a shoebox, or as many as you can, this year. Our partners bring these practical gifts and the gospel message to the poorest in their communities, to people who are unlikely to receive anything else at Christmas.
If, for any reason, you’re not able to find a shoebox and gather the gifts to put into it, then there’s another way you can help. For £28 – the approximate value of goods in a shoebox filled in the UK – our partners in Pakistan are able to buy essential items, pack them in a Box of Blessing and deliver them to people in great need. The difference in costs between there and here means that two boxes can be filled for the cost of one in the UK, so two people benefit from each £28 received in our online Shoe Box Appeal.
Your time and effort in putting shoeboxes together and your donations to send them on their way are a great blessing. Thank you for supporting Blythswood’s 2026 Shoe Box Appeal.
Jeremy Ross
Chief Executive
I never thought about spending money on such things for myself
Pakistan’s Christian minority constitutes less than two percent of the population. Typically, they are much poorer than their Muslim neighbours.
Someone cares about young people like me
Rashid may have missed out on school, but at the age of 15 he has wisdom beyond his years. Growing up at the brick kiln where his parents work, in Punjab province, Pakistan, he says: “I must work to help my family survive.”
Enough to make the world a little bit better
In the Slavic countries, the girl’s name Nadia means Hope. But for this Nadia, who attends a school in Odesa region for children with special educational needs, it has to be said her expectations are not high.
Svitlana shares her shoebox
Svitlana has had to adjust to many difficult changes in her life. When the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, she and her brother were taken abroad to Poland. Eventually she was placed with a foster family as her mother was unable to care for her, and was taken back to her homeland.
A pencil in young hands brings joy
Yehor received his shoebox at a Christmas event held in a bomb shelter, on the frontline city of Kherson, Ukraine. And in his box he found a notebook and crayons. Playing football and drawing are Yehor’s two great passions. Usually, his artwork relates to his sport but this time he had a different idea.
Shoebox gifts ease life on the economic margin
At 50, Arkan is a father of five, and proud grandfather to five more. With three generations living under one roof, the household budget it always tight. Arkan works, as he has since he was a child, as a windscreen washer at busy traffic junctions in Kragujevac, the fourth largest city in Serbia.
Happy to help, Claudiu spreads the love
At seven years of age, Claudiu has to be one of Blythswood’s youngest shoebox distributors. And, of course, there was one for him, too, after he had helped to hand them out in the compound where he lives with his family, in small-town western Romania.
Shoebox smiles at sunshine school
Rafael is one of the students at Raza de Soare, a school for children with special needs in Arad, Romania. Abandoned by his mother and diagnosed with autism, he was left in the care of his father who did not know how to help him. Rafael was 11 when he started school. Now he is a calmer person and can make decisions for himself.
Love needs no translation
Paul Algeo has served as Blythswood’s church engagement officer for south and central Scotland since 2024. In December he helped to distribute shoeboxes in the Cahul district of southern Moldova. “I couldn’t understand one word this lady was saying but her gratitude was obvious,” he remembers. “She was so frail and wanted to take my hand and squeezed it tight.
Practical aid for family who live by recycling
Seven-year-old Ana is the youngest of four children in a village 20km from the city of Gjakova, Kosovo. In poor health and without employment, her parents, Gezim and Saranda, survive by scavenging through other people’s rubbish for cans and scrap metal.
Gifts for kids allowed home for christmas
Lajos got home for Christmas! After spending all year in a children’s home, he and his brother and sister were allowed to return to the two-roomed village dwelling which is shared by their grandparents, father and step-mother in rural eastern Hungary.
Christmas in Slatina
Pastor Roumen Ivanov tells how your gifts were distributed in one of the poorest communities in Bulgaria
Gifts help teens living in poverty
Alketa, aged 16, lost her father in an accident some time ago. Her mother is fully occupied with the care of one of Alketa’s sisters who lives with disabilities and has many health problems.