Link to Hope Shoebox Appeal

FINAL SHOEBOX 2024 TOTAL

25,633 Family & Elderly shoeboxes all delivered safely to their destinations in Eastern Europe.  A team from Link to Hope were delivering and there’s an extract from their Delivery Diary below.  

Day 2 – Sunday, 8th December: A Journey of Resilience and Hope

As we set off for our mission today, one of the primary reasons we were here in this beautiful yet battered corner of Romania became apparent: the aftermath of severe flooding in September that devastated so many lives. Over 6,000 homes had been evacuated, leaving families with nothing but the clothes on their backs and their spirits hanging by a thread. But in the face of overwhelming loss, the human spirit showed its incredible capacity for resilience.

We met a man named Nicolas, a spry 82-year-old whose devotion to caring for his bedridden wife was evident in every word he spoke. His face lit up when he received his shoebox – especially with the chocolate and the hot water bottle. It was a simple gesture, yet it provided comfort in a world that had been turned upside down by the floods. As we made our way through the village, we saw houses that had been submerged in mud, some with water reaching the windows, others as high as the rooftops. It was a humbling sight.

One family’s living situation stood out to us: a couple caring for their elderly parents, both bedridden with dementia. One parent stayed in the house, and the other in a container, as their home had been swallowed by the floodwaters. Despite the hardship, they were so grateful for the blankets and shoeboxes, which provided not just physical warmth but also a sense of connection to the outside world.

Another woman shared how she had saved nothing but a table and four chairs, watching helplessly as everything else was ruined. Now living in a container, she was grateful for a shoebox filled with life’s essentials.

We met a lady who had been a lifeline to her elderly neighbors,  providing care in a tiny room that also housed a bedridden neighbor. The conditions were basic, with the kitchen located outside, but her heart was big, and her kindness even bigger. In another part of town, a man whose roof had been destroyed was still tending to his potato crops, a quiet act of defiance in the face of adversity.