OPERATION Christmas Child has come a long way since its launch in the 1980s and this year volunteers are hoping for record support.

Wiltshire residents first started packing shoeboxes with gifts for needy children 10 years ago but this year co-ordinators are hoping to break the 40,000 mark.

In 2003 collections fell just 35 short and Westbury-based volunteer Judith Whalley is confident Wiltshire Times readers can play a big role in an appeal which netted more than £1m nationwide.

Mrs Whalley said: "When we started out in a church in Melksham we collected 47 boxes. Last year we got almost 40,000.

"Once we get 10,000 boxes our office in Wrexham sends us a truck. We use European trucks delivering to the UK so we only have to pay one way.

"And we always work with partners in the country we are sending them to because it's the only way we can ensure the gifts get there ok."

There can be little doubt about the impact the shoeboxes have on poverty-stricken children, many of whom have been abandoned by their parents.

Mrs Whalley helped hand out gifts to youngsters in the Romanian town of Cluj last Christmas and experienced first hand the difficulties they face.

She said: "I believe that these people care about their children. It's just that they've got no money and that by abandoning them in a hospital or a shelter they'll get a better life."

The team's trip report said: "In each school, children waited patiently in their classrooms or outside in the playground for their gifts.

"They had never received a shoebox before, and because there are so many needy children in the country, they are unlikely to do so ever again.

"Some of the children were so excited they were physically sick. One boy was so overcome that he sat and cried, while others could not take it all in and clutched their boxes tightly to their chests without opening them."

The shoeboxes can be packed for boys and girls in three different age groups as detailed below, but Mrs Whalley is particularly keen for people to choose the teenage category. She is already visiting schools and groups in the area to encourage past supporters to keep up their efforts and recruit others to join in the nationwide appeal.

For more information on Operation Christmas Child, pick up a leaflet, log on to www.samaritanspurse.uk.com or call the appeal helpline on 0870 011 2002.