Muskoka Shoebox Project Seeks Additional Support As End Of Season Nears

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Muskoka Shoebox Project Seeks Additional Support As End Of Season Nears
Photo courtesy of the Muskoka Shoebox Project

The volunteers behind the Muskoka Shoebox Project have less than 400 boxes left to pack and distribute before they meet their goal, and they’re seeking some additional support to get there as the project nears its end for 2024.

Local coordinator Heather Scott said they’re primarily looking for cash to fill the gaps in their existing boxes. They received a large donation of toiletry items from a local charity, so they’re covered on shampoo, body wash, hand cream and toothbrushes. They could use more empty shoeboxes and a slew of other specific items, so monetary donations go a long way in completing each box. The shoeboxes are filled with roughly $50 of gifts for women experiencing homelessness and other challenges.

“We really try to make sure that it’s good quality products inside that we would use ourselves,” Scott said. “We try to wrap it in beautiful paper and coordinated ribbon and make it a nice gift and a nice handwritten card inside that is very thoughtful. We want the person to open it and feel like this is a special gift just for them.”

Donors can provide individual products or fully completed boxes, so the volunteers make sure to go through every box to ensure they’re roughly the same value and level of care. Some shoeboxes come in overflowing with product while others may not have enough, so they redistribute items and purchase extra gifts to balance them out.

They also have to ensure that the boxes don’t contain alcohol, razor blades or any other items that could be a concern for vulnerable people. Some agencies also want boxes that are unscented or gender-neutral. Volunteers remove any sized items like pajamas because the boxes are given out to such a wide variety of agencies and people that they aim to include things like hats, socks, gloves and scarves that anyone can enjoy. 

Any items they remove get donated to local charities like food banks, but it does translate to a need for more gift items. Scott also wants to remind people that they’re seeking full-sized unopened products rather than hotel-sized products or previously opened items. 

“We appreciate everything we get, but some boxes come in and it’s almost like somebody has emptied their old bathroom vanity drawer of all the products that they don’t want,” she said. “We don’t want that. We want a nice gift for people to open, so those we’ll top up with the products that we have.”

Muskoka 100 People Who Care host a shoebox raiser on Nov. 3. Photo courtesy of Muskoka 100 People Who Care

The overall number of shoeboxes they’re aiming to make has risen to 1,612 for the year. Scott said that most of the time, they can count on donors to provide about 40 per cent of the completed boxes while the team of volunteers packs the other 60 per cent.

Many of the completed boxes they receive come from shoebox packing parties. Muskoka 100 People Who Care put together 146 boxes alongside a huge donation of individual products. They would have filled more, but like the project overall, they ran out of empty shoeboxes.

Longtime supporter Brandy Van Gelder from Huntsville has made a habit of throwing parties that generate dozens of shoeboxes each year, and this time around, she and her guests made about 160. The Town of Bracebridge and Muskoka Paint & Decorating also hosted parties.

They’ve received so much support from groups and individuals, but the hard part at the end is the discrepancy between different products. They may have plenty of shampoo but no loofahs or a plethora of socks with no hats. They also need to buy wrapping supplies and boxes from time to time, so every dollar and every volunteer helps them get to the finish line.

“We’re really nearing the end, but we can always use some extra volunteers, even just for a couple of hours to wrap and make boxes, even just some volunteers that want to come and just grab a load of cardboard and take it to the dump,” Scott said. “We don’t make a lot of garbage, but we do make a lot of cardboard.”

The volunteer team uses the Chapel Gallery in Bracebridge as their home base. They made a $400 donation to use the space, but Scott said it’s a nominal amount given the value it adds to the process. 

It’s a central location for the volunteers, who come from across the region, and it’s set up in a way that’s perfect for easy loading and unloading. The volunteers distribute the boxes to nearly 20 local charities including Christine’s Place, Muskoka Victim Services, Table Soup Kitchen and the YWCA.  

“We try to get them out as much as we can before December 1st, so the agencies have time to organize and distribute them,” she said. “We have a simple system where we start with the smallest agency and then we fill the biggest ones last.”

Their system helps them manage space throughout the shoebox season, but it also helps them ensure that the agencies with the fewest resources get their allotted boxes first. Still, with their progress so far, Scott feels confident that they’ll reach their goal. 

Many of their completed creations have already been distributed to local charities. They work hard to make sure each gift is beautiful inside and out, and it’s all more than worth it when they hear from the recipients. 

“Every time we drop off, we hear stories of people who receive the boxes that it’s the only gift they’ll receive this year,” Scott said. “This one woman, we were told that it was the first gift she received in years, so that’s why we do it.”

To learn more about the Muskoka Shoebox Project, or to make a donation, visit the project website

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