Local business offers Father Christmas a helping hand!
A Devon removals company is volunteering its services to the charity Operation Christmas Child for the second year running.
The idea of the organisation is to encourage donations of shoeboxes filled with gifts. These shoe boxes are then delivered around the world to children who without this donation may not receive a Christmas gift. In 2011 Van Man Exeter contacted Operation Christmas Child’s Exeter base to offer our assistance.
We moved approximately 1400 cubic feet of boxes from Plymouth to join the 16,000 shoeboxes to leave the Exeter depot destined for eastern Europe. Van Man Exeter’s proprietor Michael Bradley says “We heard some really inspiring stories when helping out last year, including a woman from Dartmoor who spends all year knitting hundreds of woolly hats to be sent to the children! Van Man Exeter is delighted to be helping this good cause once again.”
Operation Christmas Child was set up in 1990 by father of four Dave Cooke, from Wrexham, who was so moved by the plight of Romanian orphans that he organised a lorry-load of toys to be collected and taken to them.
Twenty years later, more than a million shoeboxes are given to children in deprived areas around the world each Christmas by the organisation. We would really encourage donations of these boxes to the charity. You can donate your box between the 1st November and the 18th November.
Suggestions for what can be included in the boxes is available on the charity’s website http://www.operationchristmaschild.org.uk/. The drop off locations for Operation Christmas Child in Exeter are:
Stead and Simpson 197 High St, Exeter, Devon EX4 3EB
Open: 9.00-5.30 Mon-Sat, 10.30-4.30
Sun Shoe Zone 200 High Street, Exeter, Devon EX4 3EB
Open: 9.00-5.30 Mon-Sat, 11.00-4.00
Sun Saleboards 51 South Street, Exeter EX1 1EE
Open 9am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday and 9.30am to 4pm Saturdays. Call 01392 427442 for details.
Northwood Exeter 7 Paris Street, Exeter, EX1 2JB
Open Monday to Friday 9:30am-5:30pm and Saturday 9:30am - 12pm our contact number is 01392 435130
Quickstore Storage Ltd 103 Grace Road West Marsh Barton, Exeter, Devon EX2 8PU
Open 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 4pm Saturday. Free phone 0800 907 9079
Van Man Exeter was started in 2008 and is run by Michael Bradley. We provide a competitive home removals service with uniformed, trained staff and full insurance for your possessions. Our modern vans are all kept smart, clean and are ideal for negotiating smaller Westcountry roads! Van Man is the only removals company which is part of Devon County Council’s “Buy with Confidence” scheme. This means the business has been visited by a member of the Trading Standards team who made sure our work meets their high standards. http://www.vanmanexeter.co.uk/
