Nearly 150 shoeboxes packed with gifts will soon be delivered to local women experiencing homelessness.
It’s thanks to Muskoka 100 People Who Care and The Shoebox Project.
An event was held on Sunday (Nov. 3) at the Port Carling Community Centre – and saw volunteers pack each shoebox with about $50 worth of goods.
Marion Mochrie, one of the group’s founders, says they decided to host the event after hearing a presentation from The Shoebox Project at their last fundraising meeting.
“We felt we needed to do something to help them out for the season,” says Mochrie.
Mochrie says the event was a “great success”, with around 30 volunteers helping with donations.
“We ran out of shoeboxes, so we could have done a lot more. We would have had more shoeboxes,” says Mochrie.
She says Quality Home Products donated over 5,000 pounds of product.
“That was part of putting the stuff in the shoe boxes, and we had someone donate socks. Someone donated toothbrushes, toothpaste, and deodorant, and there were little pens, little writing books, and some chocolate. It filled the shoe box.” she says.
Mochrie says after everything has been packed, each shoebox is wrapped in Christmas paper. Then she says someone writes a personal note and puts it in the shoe box.
She says it is a “great start to the season,” adding the shoeboxes will go to The Shoebox Project and then distributed to organizations across Muskoka.
