Finlay with a shoebox: ‘It all boils down to the thought of a stranger showing kindness’

Somebody somewhere thought about me

Why should anyone fill a shoebox for Blythswood? Blythswood News put this question to Finlay Mackenzie who retired as Head of Projects this year, having overseen the logistics of shoebox distribution since 1996.

Your shoebox can change a life. It may be given to someone who has never received a gift before. This can be true for a granny as much as for a child. I remember handing out boxes in the old folks’ home in Jimbolia. I have seen the old people happy and laughing. That was something to behold.

And I remember the delight shown by the children at a kindergarten in Dej. In Cluj a pastor of the Hungarian Reformed Church took me to the refuse tip on the outskirts of the city where Roma families were living in huts. Their initial reaction was suspicion but then they were delighted to receive something new and the distrust quickly went.

The first time we visited a Roma village near Marghita, two policemen went with us. The next time our local contact told me to just to go and that there would be no need for police. Many of the people in this village had been touched by the gospel and it was incredible to see the change.

In Hungary I remember one blind lady who made a long journey on the bar of someone’s bicycle and who went home by the same way, so delighted with her shoebox.

It all boils down to the thought of a stranger showing kindness. This is true in all countries. Somebody somewhere thought of me. Boxes are still very much appreciated. Twenty years ago we may have thought that the Shoe Box Appeal was drawing to a close but then we realised that they were still really important to the people who receive them.