Nearly 7,500 presents were given out during the 2024 Christmas box campaign.
The 2024 Christmas Box Appeal was a great success thanks to House of Opportunity’s wonderful supporters. Dozens of schools, churches, business and community groups, along with many individuals joined in with the appeal. Presents made their way from Devon, London, Sheffield and South Wales and from all around Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset to a small Methodist Church in the quiet village of Woodfalls.
Once there, scores of volunteers checked all the boxes before they were shipped to Bulgaria and distributed to Bulgarian orphanages, Roma communities, refugee centres, kindergartens and schools in poor neighbourhoods and senior citizen’s homes, among other places. There were a lot of big grins as the boxes were given out – and that was just the team! “It’s hard to convey just what these presents mean to the people that receive them”, says Rich Parsons, who leads the Christmas Box Appeal for House of Opportunity. “Some of the communities that we visit are staggeringly poor, and the children are so dirty due to lack of facilities for washing, that they are denied entry to schools. Our partners in Bulgaria are working to build washrooms to make sure this isn’t a problem in the future. There’s no way that people living in these circumstances can think about giving their children even the simplest present. The Christmas boxes are a huge blessing”.
Our Bulgarian partners are very important to us. House of Opportunity has a number of long-term programmes in Bulgaria. In addition to its work in Roma communities, our partner organisation in Burgas, Faithful Steward, runs a House of Opportunity for at-risk young state care leavers, and provides vital support for a number of rural kindergartens, effectively ensuring they are not closed with local children shut out of early years education. “It’s an absolute pleasure to be able to work with local organisations like Faithful Steward”, Rich continues. “Our working relationship with them now goes back many years. Together we have seen many lives changed in the region, and the Christmas box appeal has played a part in that from the very first.”
Thank you again for your support for the Christmas Box Appeal. It means so much more than you think! We hope to se you later in 2025…
You can see videos of Christmas box distributions on FSCI’s Facebook page or YouTube channel.
