Having reached its millionth child last year, the Santa Shoebox project is expanding its reach with its 2021 theme of ‘Beyond the Million’. The Durban flagship drop-off, which services the Durban Central, Durban North and uMhlanga areas, will be held at Gateway from 4 to 6 November. Boxes can be dropped off at any time at the Gateway information desk until 3 November.
The Santa Shoebox Legacy has been accruing all private donations to the charity since 2017 up until the millionth shoebox was achieved in 2020. These funds are funnelled towards initiatives that address food security, income generation, education, infrastructure support, gender-based violence, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean electricity as well as climate action. To date, the project has three initiatives under its umbrella. The traditional Santa Shoebox distributed to underprivileged and socially vulnerable children throughout South Africa and Namibia. Santa Shoebox donors choose their beneficiary by name, age and gender and are given each child’s clothing size. Every Santa Shoebox is required to contain eight specified items, chosen with the underprivileged child at heart.
These items are a toothbrush, toothpaste, facecloth, soap, sweets, school supplies, a toy and an outfit of clothing, all new, unused and age-appropriate. Every shoebox is checked upon drop-off to ensure compliance and to protect the safety of the children. The virtual Santa Shoebox is a generic box available all year round to meet the needs of those living too far away from drop-off points. These are delivered to children living in far-flung rural areas and the Santa Shoebox Legacy in which corporate sponsors cover the main operating costs. As part of the Project’s March to A Million drive, all privately donated funds over the past four years have been accruing under the Santa Shoebox Legacy fund. In 2020, a portion of these funds were allocated to Covid-19 relief projects, enabling the project to support a number of other NPOs in reaching their UN Sustainable Development Goals such as hunger relief, food security, tackling gender-based violence, clean energy, and clean water and sanitation. In addition, a crèche was built in the Loskop District of rural KwaZulu-Natal.
