How you can help this Pulborough housebuilder spread festive cheer to children worldwide

Barratt Homes is supporting the well-established shoebox campaign, Operation Christmas Child.

The housebuilder is offering its marketing suite at Warren Grove on Robell Way in Storrington as a drop off point for the charity during the first two weeks of November.

Last year Samaritan’s Purse distributed 678,942 wrapped shoeboxes from the UK which were sent to make Christmas a bit more special for children in Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Estonia, Middle East, Central Asia, Latvia, Liberia, Macedonia, Romania, Ukraine, Moldova.

This is the fourth year Barratt has provided many of its marketing centres to support the campaign.

Nick Cole, director of Operation Christmas Child UK, shared his hope for people getting involved this year.

He said: “Operation Christmas Child is excited to be able to share the true meaning of Christmas with thousands of children around the world every year, thanks to our generous supporters.

“We hope that schools, companies and individuals across the UK will all help contribute to a record collection for 2018.”

Lynnette St Quintin, sales and marketing director for Barratt Southern Counties said: “As a national housebuilder, we support a wide range of charities both locally here in Pulborough and also further afield.

“This November, we are very proud to be opening up our show home here at Warren Grove to help bring a little Christmas cheer to children in other parts of the world.

“Anyone who is looking to fill a shoebox which will then be distributed by Operation Christmas Child, is welcome to drop it off at our show home in the first two weeks of November.”

If you’re interested in dropping off a shoebox for the appeal then please follow the following steps.

Get an empty medium sized shoebox and wrap the lid and box separately in festive wrapping paper. Select an age category two to four, five to nine or ten to 14 and attach the label to the top of your shoebox.

Fill it with suitable gifts, suggestions are on www.operationchristmaschild.org.uk

Make an online payment to cover transportation costs (to donate, go to www.operationchristmaschild.org.uk)

Print off the barcode you receive once you have donated and place it in the shoe box.

Lastly place a rubber band around the box and drop it off at Warren Grove between today and November 18 (check barratthomes.co.uk for opening times).

For further details about Operation Christmas Child and how to pack a shoe box, please visit their website at www.operationchristmaschild.org.uk.

See our guide to Christmas light switch on events here: https://www.wscountytimes.co.uk/news/west-sussex-christmas-lights-switch-ons-where-are-they-when-do-they-start-how-much-does-it-cost-1-8682771