Santa Shoebox Project

The Project originated in Cape Town in 2006 with a humble 180 shoeboxes and in 19 years has exceeded 1.3 million shoeboxes distributed to more than 1 000 recipient facilities each year, through more than 60 satellites around South Africa. Donors pack Santa Shoeboxes containing essential items and treats, knowing the beneficiary child’s first name, age, gender and clothing size. The 8 required items are a toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, a wash cloth, sweets, a toy, school supplies and an outfit of clothing – all new and unused.   A Virtual Santa Shoebox (VSS) option is also on offer to donors, packed by the SSP team and distributed to rural areas. The VSS also serves as the Project’s financial sustainability tool, yielding surplus funds which are applied to SSP Legacy activations. The SSP Legacy brings permanent change to the impoverished communities in which the Project’s beneficiary children live, with a firm focus on education in the formative years. As most of the operating costs of the Santa Shoebox Project are covered by the Project’s main sponsor PEP, all other donations contribute towards the SSP Legacy.   The Santa Shoebox Project (SSP) Legacy has four initiatives, and since its inception in 2020, it has reached more than 186,000 children.   1 BUILD - We build new or transform existing ECD Centres, enabling registration with the Department of Basic Education in order to qualify for grants. An SSP Legacy ECD consists of a classroom per 25 learners, a kitchen, office and sickbay, with a fully fenced educational playground and vegetable garden, and gutters, a water tank and toilets. It is handed to the School Principal fully fitted out, down to the dish soap. We have thus far built 7 ECD centres in rural South Africa. 2 LEARN - In partnership with expert service providers, themselves NPOs, we train ECD practitioners in learning through play, making toys from waste, perceptual skills and lesson structure. 2,175 teachers have thus far been trained, impacting more than 114,000 children. 3 READ - We install reading corners in under-resourced ECDs, consisting of a bookshelf packed with 60 new, age-appropriate books,  a bench with cushions, an interactive rug and a 40-week lesson plan. Again, we partner with NPOs both in the manufacturing of the reading corner and in the provision of the lesson plan. 223 reading corners have thus far been installed, impacting over 45,000 children. 4 HELP – Ad hoc assistance in line with our focus on Early Childhood Development.