The Isle of Wight Rotary Club is currently trying to fill a shoebox for each of the 80 displaced Ukrainian children here on the Isle of Wight, can you help them?
80 shoeboxes need to be filled before the children attend a Christmas party being thrown for them on 18th December.
You can pick up a shoebox from one of the collection points across the Island, they are:
- Gurnard Press – Gurnard
- Gossips – Yarmouth
- Co-op Funeral Care – Freshwater
- Sandown Rotary Charity Shop – Lake
- Islandwide Carpets – Ryde
- Busy Bees – Ryde
- Flowers for You – Ventnor
Alternatively, you can donate some gifts to the club or donate money and they can fill the box for you – that can be done after obtaining card details and information on the club’s Facebook page.
Each box will have the age of the child it is for on it and you can fill it with Christmas treats – including toiletries, sweet treats, warm scarves etc, pens/pencils, toys etc.
All completed boxes need to be returned to where they were collected before the 18th December.


























































































When our country and capital was being bombed and fire storms swept through London and Coventry was beyond recognition, OUR brave men defended the nation,put out fires, helped pull survivors out of rubble.
Our equally brave Women stayed and worked in factories and were there for their men and children
None expected a far away country to give them a permanent home and meal ticket
Where is the loyalty and IF leaving and not contributing to the war then best stay and waive the white flag as hardly helping those brave ones remaining
The world and UK owes no one else a living be it war or famine.
Some would say we have already given more than enough to these people fleeing what others endured for years in bombed out Cities all over the UK.
A safe place to live, and most likely they will never return, victory or not.
Our children and mothers stayed here and supported their country in its darkest hours.
If we were to allow in every war, or natural disaster man women and child, then we would be worse off than we were in the war, for poverty, overcrowding and disharmony would ensue.
I understand it is hard for the Children, and giving a Christmas gift is nice but I fear the numbers as with others leaping on the UK charity bandwagon, will become so great, as we see, we can barely help our own struggling people now.
Most aren’t Christian so they are unlikely to celebrate Christmas anyway.
Too much given to foreigners now.
Time for ONCE to give to OUR people, otherwise imm’s may feel that they are actually welcome here.
They only are to be exploited for cheap labour by the rich business owners or to push up property prices or rents by the well heeled, so long as us plebs subsidise their rents, c.tax, child benefits, tax credits and income by stealth taxes.
We have too many unchecked troublesome mix of problem foreigners here now to risk adding more ‘score to settle’ beings young or old.
What about the islands born children in need ?
How on earth can we help? Our government and caring council have bled us dry
Sorry no help from me my family comes first
So true Pops we just haven’t got any more to give , and what a way to try and live in 2022 shouldn’t be happening , we will all be driven to early graves
No is the answer – how about the rotary club members simply buy these kids a present out of their own money if they want to, rather than beg money from us and then make theirselves look good by handing them out.
A lot of negativity on here when all said and done, its not the kiddies fault. But the Rotary Club don’t do themselves any favours. I couldn’t find anything about a shoebox appeal, neither could a friend, who also wanted to participate. The publicity etc was poor and has been for the last few years.. I did the Dunelm appeal instead.
Hit the nail squarely on the head. Not the kids’ fault. They didn’t ask Putin to invade and his out-of-control army to rape and murder they way across their country.
If people want to help British kids there are plenty of other options. Here’s a few to get you started.
https://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/support-us/secret-santa/
https://www.barnardos.org.uk/christmas-appeal-need
https://planetradio.co.uk/wave-105/charity/events/mission-christmas-2022-south/
Another thought. I imagine some of the whiners are wealthy enough donate a tenner to two charities. One for British kids, one for Ukrainian.
What a bunch of absolute Ebeneezers.
It is not the kids fault, BUT nor is it ours.
As stated better by others, wasn’t so long ago OUR children were being killed and maimed by war, and now sometimes by the very people we give a nice safe home to and they then bring ‘their’ religion, and social issues here to the very handw that feeds, clothes and pays for them to breed here, and then repay us by gang raping or blowing our children apart.
So, NO, you do your ‘bit’ to feel better, or to feel rich by ‘giving’ but many of us know that unwillingly we are already paying for them to be here, and they won’t leave even IF the war ends, so a lifetime of liabilities for us now.
They will all add to the housing pressure, rent costs, dental and NHS delays, so no thanks.
Exactly ivy
This country needs to get its priorities right.
house the UK homeless in hotels, whilst accommodation is found – put the illegal immigrants who arrived in dinghys from the safe country of france onto the street or a plane back to their country origin.
redirect overseas aid to UK aid and stop handing money to freeloaders in far away places.
cancel all free usage of the NHS by anyone other than someone who is born and bred UK citizen, or at least a ten year history of taxes paid in the uk with resident status.
kick out of jail all immigrants and simply deport them that day.
zero financial support for anyone who turns up on these shores without the means to support theirselves.
i won’t be donating.
Most Ukranians are Orthodox Christians and are actually far more devout than the average Brit who calls themselves “Christian”.
Of course they will leave when Putin is eventually defeated. They are refugees, not migrants, and the vast majority want to be back in Ukraine with their husbands and fathers who were not allowed to flee the war.
If you are ever in need of help, please place a label on yourself “I am Ivy Searle”. That way we can all make an informed choice as to whether we want to help someone who thinks so little of their fellow humans.
Ah but I DO, think of my fellow humans.
Difference is, I am as most normal people are, and care first for my family, then friends, then those I know, then those local folk I see but don’t know, then Islanders, then the English, then the British, then Europeans.
Clearly there are some in each cat I would shift my ‘care’ for, but taking in EVERYONE who is in peril, is impossible and eventually a recipe for self destruction where we can’t help our own.
YOU may be brainwashed by the BBC news, but others care by knowing people, not what images the pixels wish us to fawn over.