An ABC of OCC - B

B is for babies..it is great that folk are so thoughtful when it comes to giving shoeboxes and many ask us why we don't ask for baby boxes. Indeed, some folk just go ahead and make them! However, there are real reasons why we don't appeal for them. In the early days of OCC, we did used to collect and send baby boxes, but our partners told us that they found that they were often left over at the end of a distribution and they had to go out and deliver them by hand, which took time and of course, depleted funds. It was concluded that mothers did not want to bring the babies out in the cold weather and also, in war-torn countries there just weren't that many babies about. It is also an ironic fact that the smallest humans on the planet need huge amounts of 'stuff'. So one nappy in a shoebox won't make a huge amount of difference.


If you have sent a baby box in the past it would still have been given to a baby, but we do ask that you send only to the 2-4, 5-9 &10-14 age ranges as recommended on the leaflet.

(I was sorely tempted to illustrate this post with a picture of the most beautiful baby on the planet, my granddaughter - 4 month old Martha. But this one taken in 2007 by June Vasey in East Lothian is probably more appropriate!)