Christmas Shoebox Appeal 2017

This year, we collected a total of 351 Christmas Shoeboxes to send to children in Dominica and St Lucia, which is a record number for us at the Jermain Defoe Foundation, so thank you to all that contributed towards this.

As well as sending Christmas shoeboxes, each year we send barrels of food to the Holy Family Children’s Home in St Lucia. This year, we managed to fill 6 large barrels, mostly consisting of food but also including clothes and toys.

Once the shoeboxes arrived in St Lucia and Dominica, they needed to be distributed to the children. We worked with the Dominican and St Lucian government to help us identify the areas where these Christmas gifts could go the furthest.

In Dominica, we chose to donate the boxes to two schools – Salybia Primary School and Sineku Primary School. The hurricane devastations in Dominica meant that 98% of roofs were damaged and some houses were left damaged beyond repair, with many children traumatised by the experience and some being displaced. With your help, we have been able to give students in these schools a sense of hope and make their Christmas a little bit brighter.

In St Lucia, we donated the boxes to Vieux Fort Infant School, Lions Preschool and Special Education Centre. Director of the Jermain Defoe Foundation Sandra St Helen visited St Lucia to donate these gifts to the children and to see the direct impact that these Christmas shoeboxes have. She said that it was a really special moment, and the children were overjoyed when they received these gifts.

We want to say a big thank you from all of us here at the Jermain Defoe Foundation. Your support has helped us to improve the lives of young children, particularly those in St Lucia and Dominica who desperately need it right now. These children are vulnerable, abused and often homeless, born into a life of less opportunity. You helped to brighten their Christmas, and that happiness will go a long way.