THOUSANDS of shoe boxes have been collected by a charity with the aim to help children less fortunate in Eastern Europe this Christmas.

Boxes of Hope have worked tirelessly to collect as many boxes as possible from people and schools across south Cumbria before delivering them to Romania.

The bulk of the boxes will be distributed to a place called Hetea, near to Sfântu Gheorghe.

The small village is one of the poorest areas of the country with no running water available and the local school being a tiny hut down a muddy track.

Rhona Teale, trustee and shoe box coordinator, said the target will be surpassed.

She said: “We have collected 2750 in our warehouse so far, with more yet to come.

“That is pleasing because we are on track to go over our target of 3000.

“We are still collecting boxes from various depots so the figure is going to be good.”

Most of the children in Hetea do not know what Christmas is and shoe box donations are the first gifts they have ever received.

Mrs Teale said shoe boxes meant everything to the 500 children in the village.

She said: “I can already see the beaming smiles on their faces.

“A shoe box to them is the equivalent of an Xbox or a PlayStation to a child in the UK.

“They don’t receive gifts and some of them have never had anything like this.

“Families have previous boxes on their mantle piece with all their valuables in, so that gives an indication of how much it means.”

Donations are still being accepted by the charity.

Boxes of Hope at the Nan Tait Centre on Abbey Road will accept donations until Monday morning.

The lorry from Romania will come at around 9.30am on Tuesday to take the boxes on their 1800-mile trip across Europe.

Mrs Teale has thanked everybody who has taken the time to put together a box.

She said: “I want to pay special thanks to the people at Furness Lions, who have been here all week helping out.

“I want to thank everyone who has donated, it means everything to the children.”