| Around 400 shoeboxes filled with items such as clothes, toiletries, toys, hats and gloves are being sent from the city through a new charity to be named Vision Romania.
The process of filling and wrapping the boxes began after a team of eight volunteers from Dundee visited the Bethlehem Christian Centre in Hunedoara, Romania, in August.
The women packed the boxes into a van yesterday. It will begin its journey down to a collection point in London next week, with pick-ups of more boxes being made along the way in Newcastle and Leeds.
It was when the team were on their charity trip that they were informed the centre was struggling to find people to donate Christmas gifts and that these basic essentials would be the only presents children would receive on Christmas Day.
The visit was made during a week spent helping at a camp, run in the Carpathian Mountains as a respite for disadvantaged children.
When the team returned to Scotland they began the process of registering the charity under the name Vision Romania and they plan to continue supporting both the camp and the Bethlehem Centre.
They expressed thanks, on behalf of the children in Romania, to everyone in and around Dundee who has helped fill the boxes in such a short time.
Heather Dick-Reid, said on behalf of the team, “We have been really touched that people have found it in themselves, especially in this current economic climate, to look beyond their own problems and to help others in need. In October, we committed ourselves to filling 200 boxes, so to have managed 400 is wonderful — altogether there’s 1000 boxes being sent out from across the UK in time for Christmas.” |
