Locations and Lessons

This is what the maps in the email will look like
showing where all shoeboxes were distributed

After the Operation Christmas Child shoebox campaign 2011/2012, we were able to tell shoebox donors who gave their £2.50 shoebox donation online which country their shoeboxes went to. This proved very popular and was one of the most successful 'email blasts' we have ever done. We are going to send those donors another email this week. It will contain an update from that country and a map showing the various locations the shoeboxes reached in each country.

It was my job to read through the reports from our partners in each country to get quotes and stats for these emails. I also had to find the towns and villages where shoeboxes had been distributed across the 12 countries in eastern Europe, FSU and Africa. Google Maps came in very handy for this; I learned a new technical skill and improved my geography no end!

In some countries, such as Liberia, matching up the location our partners had described to the maps was a frustrating and time consuming task. I got there in the end and hopefully, our donors will enjoy this extra information and their map. I guess they could go into Google and click that little yellow man to zoom in to see the places for themselves.. such are the wonders of our technological world.

If you would like to take part in Operation Christmas Child this year and would like to know where your shoebox goes, here's where to start  and you can even make a shoebox from the comfort of your home without doing all that tedious shopping around and thinking up of ideas with the amazing 'Shoebox World'