How do we do it?
Every penny donated is used to create Literacy Boxes for schools …
Some volunteers have signed up with us as Ambassadors and they help promote our cause whenever they are given an opportunity
To raise the funds that will allow us to send Literacy Boxes, we need to create an awareness of our work. This is carried out by our volunteers and Ambassadors to individuals or groups, or to the public at large through social media.
Once sufficient funds have accrued, we check with Grace, our Ambassador in Zambia, where the boxes are to be sent and with our logistics partners, the departure date of their next container. We then order the requisite number of boxes and contents and have these delivered on a specified date to a local church hall. Here the red or blue Literacy Boxes are labelled with the destination schools’ names and the donors’ names (if requested)
At the same time, the items are set out to allow the packers to pick all the items specific to pack one box. Once packed the Literacy Boxes are sealed and security tied. The sealed boxes are then couriered to our local logistics partner, Langdons, who transports them to either Operation Sunshine in Folkestone or the National Police Aid Charity in Mansfield, for their onward journey to Zambia. This trip takes two to three months in total. Once the container arrives in Lusaka, our Ambassador Grace, who runs a church ministry, manages the transport of the Literacy Boxes to the schools she specified
Zambia is the predominant destination for the bulk of our boxes.
Many donors worry about the security and corruptive possibilities in what we do and ask for recognition that ‘their box’ has arrived where they have been informed it is being sent. Grace ensures all is well and sends feedback testimonials from teachers, along with photos or occasionally a ‘Thank you’ video of the children with the Literacy Boxes and contents displayed.
The images we receive from this feedback reassure our donors. The heartfelt commentary of a letter from teachers or the images sent can be emotional and motivates us to want to do more to help these wonderful children.