CASTLEBAR GENEROSITY HELPS CHILDREN IN ARMENIA
By: Marian Harrison

Western People, Ireland
Nov 22 2006

A CONTAINER laden with 5,500 shoeboxes of goodies left Castlebar on
Friday evening last destined for children in Armenia.

Shoe boxes filled with toys, hats, gloves, colouring books, jewellery
and sweets will reach the children, many who would otherwise be without
a Christmas present, on January 6 after travelling by sea and land.

Ann Coleman and her elves have spent the past two weeks sorting
through boxes, wrapping presents and packing them away in the Old
Bargain Centre on Castlebar’s Main Street but all the hard work will
be worthwhile when the children open their presents, noted Ann.

This year is the fifth year of existence for the Shoe Box Appeal in
Castlebar and it wouldn’t survive without the help of local schools
and clubs, insisted Ann.

"I was visiting schools in October to tell them about the appeal and
a lot of students, teachers and clubs from the area got involved and
were a tremendous help and our location on the Main Street was great
for publicity with a lot of people calling in to find out what was
going on." This year’s presents were even better than previous years
with hats, scarves, gloves and good quality toys being donated.

All the boxes collected in Castlebar wouldn’t fit in the container
and instead 2,000 boxes were sent to Westport where they will be
included in another batch to be sent abroad later in the month.

When the truck pulled out of Castlebar last week, Ann Coleman must
have felt a huge sense of pride but she’ll have to do it all over again
next year when she takes the job of Mayo co=ordinator for the appeal.

"I’m going on a distribution to Romania on December 8. It will boost
everyone for next year. I can bring back lots of pictures and hopefully
the appeal will be bigger and better."

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress