Community joins church Christmas box appeal
 2009: Taverham Evangelical Church (TEC) has been overwhelmed by the response from their local community to their shoe box appeal for underprivileged children run by Christian charity Samaritan’s Purse.
TEC pastor Vic Ready said: “The idea is to fill a shoe box full of toys and treats, wrap it in Christmas paper and donate it to the children of worn-torn countries struggling with terrible deprivation and poverty. The boxes are checked and sorted at the local distribution centre, loaded on to lorries and sent abroad to reach the children by Christmas.
“It’s impossible to measure how much excitement and joy every box brings to a child who may never have received a Christmas present before.”
TEC member Ron Munson, who plays drums in the worship band, is also the headmaster of Taverham High School so, this year, TEC managed to enlist the help of the local schoolchildren as well who managed to provide a staggering 120 boxes for the appeal.
“TEC donated 75 boxes,” said Vic, “and many of the ladies in church were delighted to have an excuse to go out and buy a new pair of shoes - just to get an empty shoe box of course!”
Several other local organisations joined in bringing the final total to just over 300 boxes, many of which had to be stored in the Senior Pastor’s office, temporarily transforming it into Santa’s Grotto.
Vic said: “Jill Watkinson, also a TEC member, did a wonderful job co-ordinating the whole appeal and motivating everyone to join in and confirmation has just been received that all our boxes this year will go to the poorest children in Novi Sad in Serbia. Novi Sad is the second largest city in Serbia and it is twinned with Norwich.
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