Apprentice’s Shoe Box Appeal brings joy to the elderly

The Sellafield Ltd Apprentice Council, made up of 20 trainees, organised the Christmas Shoe Box Appeal, collecting hundreds of gifts from Sellafield Ltd and supply chain employees.

They packed a variety of gifts into shoe boxes, wrapping each one individually before delivering them to residential homes in Egremont, Cleator Moor and Whitehaven.

They were joined by the Mayor of Copeland, Mike Starkie, who helped hand out the boxes at the Castle Mount Care Home, in Egremont.

Mike said:

I was delighted to see the Sellafield Ltd Apprentice Council giving back to their local community. To see generations coming together to celebrate the festive season, and for local employees to give back to those in care homes across Copeland is fantastic, and a great example of the generosity often shown in our community.

Rose Shaw, a Sellafield Ltd business administration apprentice said:

This year, the Sellafield Ltd Apprentice Council wanted to do something a bit different in the run up to Christmas.

We decided to run a local version of the Operation Christmas Shoe Box Appeal for the elderly in residential care homes around West Cumbria.

We initially contacted local care homes to get an idea of the kind of things we could ask people to donate and created lists of ideas from there.

The response to the appeal was unbelievable. We were getting boxes filled with such lovely, thoughtful gifts on a regular basis.

It’s very heartwarming knowing that these shoe boxes could make an elderly person’s Christmas that little bit better, making it so worthwhile.

The wrapped shoe boxes were presented to 5 different West Cumbrian care-homes by the apprentices themselves this week.

• Castle Mount Care Home, Bookwell, Egremont
• Denthome Care Home, Cleator Moor
• Wyndham Manor Care Home, Cleator Moor
• Bethshan Care Home, Whitehaven
• Bethany House Care Home, Whitehaven