36 | Health & Wellbeing


Operation Christmas Box


The tradition of sending Christmas boxes to our troops originated in 1914 when Princess Mary, the daughter of King George V, came up with the idea to provide everyone wearing the King’s uniform and serving overseas on Christmas Day with a ‘gift from the nation’.


The tradition was revived in 2004 and because it was so well received by the recipients, the charity uk4u Thanks! was formed in 2005. It is run by four unpaid Trustees who all have close links to our military forces. Their first Patron was His Grace the Duke of Westminster until his untimely death. The Trustees approached and were delighted when James Gray MP for North Wiltshire accepted the ‘challenge’ of being their next Patron. uk4u Thanks! was launched to help improve the morale of the UK Armed Forces through charitable means, by promoting the well-being and esprit de corps of all those unaccompanied Servicemen and Servicewomen overseas on military service on 25th December. We send the Christmas Boxes around the world wherever our UK Armed Forces are located including RN vessels at sea. Our name was changed last year to Operation Christmas Box to describe better what we do.


The original box, made of brass, contained gifts such as cigarettes, tobacco, bullet pencils and a picture of Princess Mary. The contents of the modern boxes are very different from the originals and now include a variety of items that are gender free, good fun, that will not cause offence on grounds of religion or race and that will not perish whilst en-route. The items are refreshed each year to maintain interest and to reflect comments received from recipients. When the items are selected each year, the job of sourcing them and then packing the boxes is in the careful hands of Vestey Foods UK Ltd (Special Contracts Division), without whom our work would be considerably more difficult.


“Christmas is a difficult time and whilst we hear lots of messages of support, this box is a tangible token of the nation’s thanks and appreciation.”


The Christmas Boxes are endorsed by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), with whom the Operation Christmas Box Trustees work closely with. The MOD provide the numbers required each year with their locations and helps to ensure that the gifts are received in theatre well before the Christmas rush. In that way, the delivery of the boxes does not have a negative effect on the military supply chain. Although the charity receives assistance from the MOD, there is no funding support. So we rely entirely on funding for the boxes to come from companies and individuals. The Trustees are hugely grateful to our sponsors, some of whom have supported the charity, and in turn the Armed Forces, for a number of years. These companies, organisations and individuals are


ENVOY | Winter 2018 Winter 18 | raf-ff.org.uk


crucial to the success of the Christmas boxes through their financial donations. Thanks to the hard work of our new Patron, the charity now has a number of new sponsors this year that includes Kilfrost, MBDA and Airbus and the Royal British Legion is working with the Trustees to provide one of the items in this year’s box. The Trustees are always on the lookout for more: perhaps you would consider doing some fundraising on our behalf so that we can continue to support our Armed Forces in the future.


One individual from Pensford in Somerset, Mrs Brenda Stone whose family also has close military connections with all three Services, chose Operation Christmas Box this year as the charity she is supporting and has already raised £812.70 with more to come before the end of the year.


At the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan war fighting, the charity produced and sent 24,500 Christmas Boxes. Nearly 9,000 have been produced this year and they are already on their way to their final destinations. What makes it all worthwhile for the Trustees is the receipt of many letters, emails and Facebook posts thanking them for the unexpected Christmas gift.


Quotes from personnel:


“Christmas is a difficult time and whilst we hear lots of messages of support, this box is a tangible token of the nation’s thanks and appreciation. I thought the gifts were really well thought through, sensible and practical. The ammo box effect was also brilliant. Thank you so very much - these were so much appreciated”


“The logistical and administrative arrangements were impressive and required an enormous effort to deliver so successfully. I know of no one who missed out and have only received comments and appreciation for the boxes.”


Operation Christmas Box website - operationchristmasbox.org


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