A BUSINESSMAN has stepped in to lend a warehouse to a charity so they can send 5,000 Christmas shoeboxes to deprived children around the world.

Philip Ralph, owner of the Guinness Park Farm Business Park at Bransford, near Worcester, said he was delighted to help Operation Christmas Child (OCC) as he had a unit free during November.

Organiser Sue Tindall, who was given the keys last Wednesday (November 1), said: “It’s a lovely, light, airy building and just what we have been looking for.

“We have already had interest from new groups who want to get involved, including warehouse owner Philip and his wife Diane who are also going to donate some filled Christmas shoeboxes.”

It follows an article about the warehouse appeal in the Worcester News which led to five volunteers offering to help the group.

Volunteers moved into the warehouse on Monday (November 6) to check, collect and store the boxes which lorries will then dispatch in December to Eastern Europe, former Soviet Union countries and Africa.

Last year the Worcester branch of OCC, which is part of Samaritan’s Purse International UK, sent 4,495 boxes abroad as part of the national charity’s 900,000 presents delivered to more than 100 countries.

The group relies on dozens of businesses, churches, groups, schools and individuals across the county to donate filled boxes.

The charity can pick up the shoeboxes or they can be dropped off in Worcester at Shoezone or Specsavers on Broad Street or The Entertainer in The Shambles.

Alternatively, shoeboxes can be taken directly to the warehouse off the A4103 from Tuesday to Saturday between 10am and 2pm.

To find out how to pack a shoebox and what items are allowed visit operationchristmaschild.org.uk or contact Sue Tindall at sue.tindall@hotmail.co.uk.