1,530 Gifts were Delivered to Children by our Volunteer Workforce

1,530 gifts were delivered to needy children personally by our volunteer workforce.

Distribution begins at one of the many schools in and around Slatina. In total, we distributed to 8 schools on the first day, Monday 13th, of arriving in Croatia.

Our gifts left Eastbourne on a 40ft Artic headed for Croatia on 26/11/2021. They were delivered to the Red Cross headquarters on 6/12/2021.

Mick, Marjorie and Stacey followed on by plane on 12/12/2021 and began to sort and unpack the large cartons on Monday morning at 7am.

Between the distribution and the unpacking of the cartons, we finally unpacked all 1,530 Gift of Love boxes by Tuesday evening.

On Monday, we managed to distribute 750 boxes to 8 schools. Although it was really hard work, we were delighted to see those wonderful smiles. God is so good.

All children received their Gift of “Love in a Box” at this school in Čeralije.

Happy to receive their gift.

Over 200 children received a gift whilst the mums received some knitted blankets.

Supporting Families in Slatina

For 30 years now, we have been taking humanitarian aid out to those that need it most and we can only do this through the direction of our partners Hrvatski Crveni Križ, Croatian Red Cross. Also by our Lord Jesus Christ using us as channels to show His love in a practical and meaningful way.

It’s very difficult to understand their lives and how they suffer but, to help you understand a little, there is approximately 85% unemployed in the Slatina area.

At the same time as giving Christmas gifts, we also give food parcels, enough to last a family of 6 over the Christmas period to the New Year. The Red Cross continue with the support for over 200 families every week throughout the year. What we do is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.

The Gypsy Camp in Čađavac

We arrived at the camp and we were asked to distribute the boxes. We thought it would be a nice idea for local dads to distribute the boxes on our behalf. They were over the moon.

The Gypsy camp in Čađavac.

Children are delighted and excited by the arrival of their Christmas Gift.

Total pupils in school: 35. Mostly Kosovan children.

These children wanted to sing a song just for us.

Many children ask their teachers, “Why do they give us presents?” We tell them that God says that we should show His love for others.

Appeal for a Home for This Family of Six

The Red Cross Slatina appeals for our help.

Vlatko Jelenčić, Director of Slatina Red Cross, has appealed to our kindness on behalf of this family.

The young lady, photo 1, has breast cancer and has a husband and 4 children. They live in a rural area with no amenities.

She has to travel over 100 miles and back every two days to have treatment in Zagreb.

The house they live in is not appropriate for her in her condition. Photo 2 shows their bed for 6 to sleep in.

Vlatko has raised £10,000 and needs another £5,000 to buy a suitable house for them to live in where they can be close to the local amenities.

And so the story begins…

Appeal Continued

Our volunteers and Trustees raised £800 for sweets so that we could buy them in Croatia and add them to the boxes when we gave them out.

As we distributed the first lot of boxes very early on, we didn’t have time to buy sweets, so we gave the boxes without sweets.

Now you may be asking, why buy sweets when there were sweets in the boxes? Unfortunately the borders would not accept sweets of any kind in the boxes, so we had to empty them of all foodstuff.

But don’t worry, the sweets ended up in the hands of deserving children in this country.

After distributing shoebox gifts to 8 schools, we were very aware that sweets were not so essential to the children as they did not appear to miss them. They still loved their gift just as much.

Going back to the appeal from the Red Cross, I spoke with our Trustees and prayed about this situation.

After praying, I believed without doubt that it was the right decision to pass on whatever monies I had towards the accommodation for the family in question.

Over £800 was given to the cause and I continued by saying that Living Life (Eastbourne) would commit to raising funds to help house this family.

Those that gave towards sweets, I do hope that you can accept the course that I took. I couldn’t justify spending all that money on sweets when there was such a great need.

Bless you.

Please Can You Help?

1. We need to raise approximately £4,000 to be able to rehouse this family and give them some kind of normal life. They don’t complain, but with an operation looming for a mastectomy, we know that this family will thrive with the right surroundings.

2. We are in need of premises to continue our work. If we do not get a premise by the end of January, we fear that many children will go without next Christmas.

If you know of someone that can help us, or you would be willing to set up a monthly direct debit to support our cost of renting one, then please call me on the numbers given below or you can email me.

May God bless each and every one of you.

Mick Trott