Clare Rose: 'Team Hope shoebox appeal is part of our Christmas tradition'
Pictured at the launch of the Team Hope Christmas Shoebox Appeal 2023 is Ambassador and Clare Rose, Aisling O'Connor with Kayla Hogan, Finlay Mahon, Amos Brennan, Beth Hogan and Ezra Mahon. Pic: Marc O'Sullivan
Aisling O’Connor has fond memories of going into town as a young girl with her late mother, Denise – and being “let loose” around Penneys to gather gifts for Team Hope’s Christmas Shoebox Appeal.
“I was given the autonomy to pick out all the little gifts,” says the 25-year-old, who was this year’s Clare Rose of Tralee. “I’d go through endless arrays of fluffy socks and mittens and colouring books. I’d add in chewy sweets and choose bright Christmas paper for wrapping the box. Even as a child, I felt fulfilled doing this.”
In August, the primary school teacher from Feakle moved the country to tears at the Rose of Tralee as she spoke about the loss of her parents – her dad, Pat, died in an accident in 2018, while her mum passed away in 2021 after a metastatic breast cancer diagnosis a year earlier.
Aisling says she has been overwhelmed and grateful for the “positivity, nice comments and support” she and her family have received since the Rose of Tralee.
That night she described how the local community surrounded her and her five brothers and “kept us close” and how they’ve “never been alone” since 2021, with “dinners outside the gate every day, vouchers left, bags of shopping, electricity bills paid and always somebody at the end of the phone”.
Her onstage account touched a chord with Team Hope, the Irish international development organisation that helps children in Africa and Eastern Europe, affected by poverty or marginalisation.
The charity reached out to Aisling, inviting her to launch this year’s shoebox appeal, something she’s “so delighted” about.
“They were struck by the message of community I was telling, the way the community really rallied around us in our time of need. They saw a correlation with what they and Irish communities do – helping people less fortunate in Eastern Europe and Africa.”
Adding that the shoebox appeal has a strong place in Irish hearts – “It’s part of our Christmas tradition now” – Aisling has been hearing “murmurs” since September from schools gearing up to do the shoebox collection.
Just this year, she left her permanent teaching job in Dublin to move back home, where she’s subbing in local schools.
“I’ll be encouraging the children to save some of their Halloween treats for the shoebox,” she says, adding that she’ll also read Bunny’s Shoebox Journey with the class – the story follows Bunny from when he’s bought by Sophie and her mum, to visiting pre-school and being put in a shoebox, to his journey across the ocean to Malawi where he’s given to Beatrice.
When putting together a shoebox, people are encouraged to think of the four W’s: Write (something to write with), Wash (something to wash with), Wear (something to wear) and Wow (something fun or a novelty). As a teacher and “coming from that angle”, Aisling says she always loves to include a small picture book.
“Children can use their imagination and flick through the colourful pages, and a book can be used again and again.”
Working on the shoebox appeal, she can’t help but think of special toys. Hers is the “first ever teddy” she got.
“His name is Champagne. Initially, he was called that for his colour. Now he’s a muddy beige. He has literally turned up in drainpipes – he has fallen in and people have pulled him out. He has survived so much!
“There’s something really comforting about a childhood teddy – he has come with me to the Rose of Tralee and across the world. He has fallen apart a bit over the years. He has a head and a bit of a body and limp arms and legs – but he’s mine.”
Based in Waterford for 18 months since she fled the war in Ukraine, Anna Kachanivska from Kyiv is volunteering with Team Hope and describes how touched she is by the shoebox appeal.
“It’s so good an idea. I was amazed at how people care about the boxes, what they buy and how carefully they package the box. I have sometimes found letters and photos of the family [donating] and it is so cool.”
Anna was 23, and 18 months into her university course in social work, when she arrived in Ireland without family and with just one friend, Sofia.
Describing how scared and alone she felt, she says: “I knew very little English. I didn’t know what I needed to do, what my future would be and when could I go back to Ukraine.”
Through the Telegram app – a globally accessible, free messaging app – she heard from other Ukrainians about opportunities to volunteer where a lack of English wouldn’t be an obstacle.
“We had started thinking about working and learning English, and volunteering was a good opportunity to do these things. And I also had a desire to help other people.”
Arriving at Waterford Volunteer Centre was the “start of her hope”. She realised that her English maybe “wasn’t so bad”, and that it’s much more difficult for older Ukrainians to adapt to a new culture and language.
“I started English classes and I started helping others with translations,” she says, describing some of the assistance she offers others: going to the doctor or post office, filling in forms and contacting social services.
Last year, Team Hope sent almost 32,000 shoeboxes to Ukraine, and Anna is very happy about this. “Christmas is a very important celebration in Ukraine,” says the young woman, whose mum, older brother and stepfather are still back home.
With the Internet connection good in summer, Anna says it’s easier to connect with family then, whereas in winter contact is more limited.
She describes how, when power is cut off, the authorities try to turn it back on and give people the opportunity to cook or do laundry for at least a few hours a day – and how she uses that opportunity to exchange very short emails, checking in with family to see if everything was okay during the day.
“I try to talk every day to my family because I don’t know when something will happen,” she says.
In a world where there’s so much to grieve about, Team Hope’s Christmas Shoebox Appeal is about making smiles happen.
In 2022, shoeboxes were packed here by over 2,000 volunteers in 50 checking centres. Eleven 40-foot trucks took the shoeboxes to Eastern Europe, while 10 40-foot containers travelled by ship to Africa.
Team Hope is calling on parents/children/teachers/families/communities to build-a-box at home or online to help reach the goal of 200,000 shoeboxes this year. “Every shoebox equals a smile on a child’s face in 12 countries across Africa and Eastern Europe – that’s got to be a target worth achieving!” says a spokesperson.
To take part, find an empty shoebox, wrap it in Christmas paper and fill it with gifts for a boy or girl aged between 2 and 14, give online or attach a €5 donation and bring it to a local drop-off point before Friday November 10.
- Build-a-box online by donating at https://www.teamhope.ie/ – a Team Hope local partner will build a box on your behalf and ensure it goes where it’s needed most.
- Follow Team Hope on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/team.hope.ireland/.
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