Jeremy Ross joined a team from partner organisation Heritage Ukraine to distribute shoeboxes in a low-income village 15 km from Odesa. “This girl opened her box at the village well which was beside her house,” he says. “She rifled through the contents then became engrossed in the book.”

Jesus is Alive contains the story of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, specially produced for Blythswood’s Shoe Box Appeal in six languages – Albanian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Romanian, Serbian and Ukrainian.

The well reminded Jeremy of the event in John’s gospel where a Samaritan woman met Jesus. Jeremy says, “By putting gospel literature in shoeboxes, as in our shops, we aim to share the story of Jesus with as many people as possible. I hope this girl will be like the woman in the gospel and tell her friends about Jesus.”

This year, the book for children is Noah – The Rescue Plan, retelling the Old Testament story of the Flood. The Day I Became a Christian is the booklet for teens, relating the spiritual journey of Paul Algeo, born and brought up in Scotland. In boxes for adults, Blythswood inserts Words of Life, a pictorial calendar produced by the Trinitarian Bible Society with one large easily-read text for each month.

Engrossed in a Bible story in Ukraine: Blythswood obtains easily-read books in six languages for the Shoe Box Appeal