As many as 2,000 Box of Hope gifts for Christmas season will be given to needy children in Ho Chi Minh City on December 20 thanks to the coordination of the Hong Kong-based Box of Hope charity agency and the Loreto Vietnam – Australia Program.

The special gifts, each including around ten toys and educational supplies, will be handed over to children in a brief ceremony at the Support Center of Education and Integration Development for the Disabled in Ho Chi Minh City at 108 Ly Chinh Thang Street, District 3.

Box of Hope is an annual charity project aimed at providing useful and educational gifts to underprivileged children in Hong Kong and Asia donated by Hong Kong school children and local organizations.

Each old shoebox is decorated, containing new toys, educational supplies, and hygiene items and dropped off at a collection point in Hong Kong before they are forwarded to destination venues across Asia, mainly in Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Philippines.

The boxes are directly delivered to children in need, some of them having never received a gift before.

Box of Hope was started by Nicole Woolhouse and Harriet Cleverly in 2008 from a desire to teach their own six children the gift of giving and awareness of their community, and show them how they can help to make a difference.

The gifts can be something to love such as bear, finger puppet, jigsaw, yo-yo, small musical instrument, small trucks and cars, doll, books, pens, pens, pencils, notepad, calculator, toothbrush and toothpaste, hairbrush, comb, sunglasses, hat, necklaces, watch, etc.

Last year, 2,000 boxes of gifts from the Hong Kong-based Box of Hope were delivered to Nguyen Dinh Chieu special school for the blind and other shelters and orphanages thanks to the coordination with Loreto.

This is the fourth consecutive year Box of Hope donates gifts to Vietnamese children via Loreto.