UKRAINIAN children will soon receive gift-filled shoeboxes from Wiltshire.

Two lorries will leave from George Ward School, Melksham, at 2pm on December 1. After being blessed, they will be driven away by volunteers from the Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child project.

Organiser Judith Whalley explained what the conditions were like in the deprived eastern European country.

She said: "There are poor, needy kids there who have been abandoned on the streets.

"Last year, boxes were taken to the Crimea, and there, kids were keeping themselves warm by sitting on hot water pipes and a three-year-old girl had been abandoned. I expect similar conditions in the Ukraine."

Although the official deadline has passed, boxes are still flooding in. Most drop-off points have closed, apart from all branches of Kwik Fit.

"We will never send boxes away as the kids love receiving the presents. They don't worry about the time of year," said Mrs Whalley.

Dave Cook, the brains behind Operation Christmas Child, has taken aid out to refugees in Afghanistan.

He described his experiences on television last week, and hopes shoeboxes will be sent there soon.

"There are tents as far as the eye can see," said Mrs Whalley. "The most important thing is letting them know we know, and that we care."

Operation Christmas Child is dedicated to relieving the suffering of children across the world who are homeless, live in orphanages or are without family support, or whose lives have been blighted by poverty, ill health, natural disaster, conflict or war.

Last year, more than 727,000 shoeboxes were collected in the UK and Ireland.

This year, 668 boxes were handed in to the Wiltshire Times office and were checked and packed at the Emmanuel Baptist Church, Trowbridge.