A LORRY bursting with more than 10,000 gift-filled-shoeboxes is on it way to be delivered to some of Romania’s poorest children for Christmas.

Thanks to generous donations and gifts from kind-hearted people across Cumbria and beyond 10,192 ‘boxes of hope’ have been collected to be redistributed to one of Eastern Europe’s most deprived areas.

Volunteers from the charity Boxes of Hope Cumbria have spent countless hours checking, packing and stacking the colourful gift-wrapped shoeboxes at two warehouses in Kendal and Barrow.

Each shoebox is filled with small inexpensive gifts ranging from cuddly toys, tennis balls, toy cars and dolls.

As well as small toys and games each box contains toiletries, educational supplies and warm items of clothing such as hats, scarves and gloves.

This Christmas, a small group of volunteers from Cumbria and North Lancashire will travel to impoverished parts of Romania, including Oradea, on December 8 to hand-deliver the brightly wrapped boxes to the children.

The charity has been providing the service since the early 1990s and since 2005 a team of local volunteers has become firmly established, co-ordinating the effort in south Cumbria, Furness and Eden.

Boxes of Hope organisers said they were grateful for everyone who filled a shoebox this year and to those who helped by donating money or knitted garments for the cause.

The volunteers from the charity will return from the trip with photographs and stories to share with schools and organisations who have kindly supported the cause.

Visit www.boxesofhopecumbria.co.uk