Camilla's Link to Hope Shoebox Superhub - Bromley

Ethan's incredible haul today for our Link to Hope Shoebox Hospital. Very excited to have pencil sharpeners, rubbers - and pretty ribbons to tie round the shoeboxes!

So happy with my Link to Hope Shoebox Christmas tree for the Christmas Tree Festival at St. Francis of Assisi. Open 9th-16th December 10 - 1pm. Lots of wonderful trees going up as Ethan and I built ours!

Talking about next year's Link to Hope Shoebox Appeal to lots of passers by enjoying the Christmas Light Switch on în West Wickham. Our Ermitrude lorry was a great way of emgaging with people 😊

Mike, Dad, George and Bill have done a sterling job of packing the outer cartons at our superhub. Now we are on the home straight, just this pile of shoeboxes to get tlc at our hospital.....

Very appreciative of those that answered my plea for today. Between us we got 217 family boxes packed and ready. 😊😊

Does anyone fancy helping at the Shoebox Hospital here tomorrow? Anytime between 10-3. Let me know if you are able to, I'm a bit short on help..... 😬

Some of the packing crew today. Lots of shoeboxes în need of tlc, and between the team they made a great dent în the pile of shoeboxes in need. 😊😊

A snapshot of today's Link to Hope shoeboxing here 😊

Time to stop for lunch today 😊

399 packed in the outer cartons so far, but a mountain still to go....

So the good news is... I am feeling much better, testing negative and our Shoebox Hospital is restarting again tomorrow! Love this 'care package' from my amazing sister! 😍

Well that is marvellous timing 🤦‍♀️! Shoebox Hospital and Superhub taking a break till at least next Wednesday......

Day 2, sorting a wonderful amount of cutlery into nice sets, and - of course - more tea and cake!

So our Link to Hope Superhub and Hospital kicked off today, accompanied by lots of tinsel and cake. Happy days!!

The Shoebox Superhub and Hospital preparations are well underway!!

A very productive shop in Home Bargains today, loads of gorgeous shoebox goodies (not the broom - that's for me 😉) We cleared several shelves of tools, cutlery and flannels. All paid for by the proceeds of the Link to Hope Autumn Fair, West Wickham

Come and join us this Saturday at our friendly Autumn Fair. All the money raised buys goodies to go in the Shoeboxes at our Superhub.

A table full of goodies donated from various people today!! Every item will be used at our Shoebox Hospital 😍😍 Thankyou one and all, especially Claire COOK West Wickham West Wickham Residents Association

Think of Leonard when you are putting together your elderly shoebox. We met him last year when we gave out shoeboxes in Moldova. A quiet man, he had lost his leg when his house got so cold he got frostbite. The subsequent gangrene setting in gave doctors no choice. He did show emotion however when he spotted a pair of reading glasses in his shoebox. It meant he could read again. That and the great mug that was also in the shoebox which he really liked. To register for this years appeal please go to https://linktohope.co.uk/shoebox-appeal-2023/

It was a pleasure to be speaking at this school in Suffolk this morning about the Link to Hope Shoebox Appeal. The students had really insightful questions. It's always exciting to have a new school on board with the shoeboxes.

Mum has been busy making these gorgeous lavender bags for my Link to Hope Shoebox Hospital here. I have seen first hand how much the scent of a lavender bag can transform a persons life. These will be perfect.

In December I was out with the Link to Hope Shoebox Delivery team, and gave a shoebox to this gentleman who exuded hopelessness. He had what looked like a rotting nose - infected skin cancer. Apparently for me to physically reach out, touch him and demonstrate love was a really big deal. I asked after him when I was in Moldova again last week to find he had died - just that previous night. It really knocked me, as I wasn't expecting that at all. I just hope that in his last few months of his short life, whatever was in his shoebox was just perfect for him and was a positive in his life. It was so sad revisiting his home, still a dark depressing place - where now his widow will now live alone.

So happy about all we have achieved alongside the team of Moldovans here at the new community centre. On our last working day we didn't finish until 8pm as we wanted to work as late as we could. Looking forward to a well deserved weekend of fun and exploring with both teams now.

My team out in Dubovca, working on the new community centre, hot weather, hard work, lots of fun

Yesterday £520 was raised for my iminent Working Party in Moldova at a wonderful Afternoon Tea Event, laid on by my parents. It is always so lovely to be able to share about the work of Link to Hope - the shoeboxes & delivery of them, the projects, and what the Working Party will be up to in just over a week. The guests so enjoyed their afternoon, many of them came bearing bags of beautiful shoebox goodies, plus one lady is keen to join my next team and also fire up her hospital workplace to gather items for our Shoebox Hospital. Huge thanks to my parents, my mum-in-law, my sister and Bethany for all they did to make it such a success. Xx