A father-of-three who received the gift of a Christmas shoebox as a child is recreating the gesture for other children affected by poverty three decades on.<\/p>\n
Adas Rakauskas, 37, never forgot the present he received as an eight-year-old as his family was struggling financially and getting food to the table.<\/p>\n
Now the Co Louth-based dad has started making the “transformative” gifts for other children.<\/p>\n
Originally from Lithuania, Mr Rakauskas is also urging the entire country to join Team Hope’s annual Christmas Shoebox Appeal by sending life-changing gifts to children affected by poverty around the world.<\/p>\n
The national charity, celebrating its 15th year, hopes to deliver its three-millionth shoebox this Christmas.<\/p>\n
Mr Rakauskas said: “We didn\u2019t have much food – or good food. Medically, we were all malnourished as children.<\/p>\n
“I remember sitting at the table as a child for a meal and there was just bread or some carrots.<\/p>\n
“What struck me most was that someone had put this together.”<\/p>\n
“At times we relied on neighbours to drop something in, so we were struggling, and it was tough on my parents from a financial perspective.”<\/p>\n
Recalling when he received the shoebox as a child, he said: “I remember all of us gathered in the village and there was a play.<\/p>\n
“At the end, the shoeboxes were given to the children. We were very excited.<\/p>\n
“I think there were pens and pencils and some stationery in the box. What struck me most was that someone had put this together.”<\/p>\n
Now living in Drogheda with his wife Tracey and their children Elias, nine; Izabella, eight; and six-year-old Mikayla, Mr Rakauskas\u2019s family boxes up the magic of Christmas by making shoeboxes for other children living in poverty.<\/p>\n
Every year, Team Hope delivers gifts straight into the hands of children in countries in Africa and Eastern Europe.<\/p>\n
The organisation says the gift-packed shoeboxes are often the only festive present they receive.<\/p>\n
As Team Hope marks its 15th year of the Christmas Shoebox Appeal and its international development work, the charity is asking schools and employers – as well as individuals and community organisations – to get involved through teamhope.ie.<\/p>\n
Since 2010, it has delivered over 2.8 million shoebox gifts and this year expects to surpass the three million mark.<\/p>\n
Deborah Lowry, chief executive of Team Hope, said: “A simple shoebox, often packed by children for children, carries not only toys and treats but also the invisible gifts of love and hope.<\/p>\n
“That kindness, travelling across oceans, reminds a child that they are not forgotten – that someone, somewhere cares.<\/p>\n
“In a world where headlines often highlight what is broken, the Christmas Shoebox Appeal stands as a powerful demonstration that the world is also filled with kindness.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A father-of-three who received the gift of a Christmas shoebox as a child is recreating the gesture for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-34525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}