Shoe Boxes of Love

08/03/2026

Today is International Women's Day and we want to take a moment to recognise the amazing women we have the absolutely privilege of knowing, meeting, or working with.

Our Board is, and always has been, predominantly women. Our supporters are predominantly women. And some of the incredible organisations we collaborate with, are blessed to work with, and work alongside, are founded and driven by women.

So, today we want to say thank you. Thank you for your support. For your collaboration, and your generosity. We are stronger when we work together, and together we achieve incredible things.

Here’s to strong women: May we know them, may we be them, may we raise them. 💄👠

26/02/2026

We are so grateful to Kerry and her group of friends for their incredible generosity, and to Rebekha Sharkie MP and her team for so gratefully accepting the boxes as one of our Drop off Locations ❤️

We were blown away when Kerry emailed to say she had a collection of empty shoe boxes and had asked her friends to fill them. How lovely is that?

These boxes will be heading out to drought impacted communities in the very near future!

A shoutout to local resident Kerry who recently dropped off more than 20 Shoe Boxes of Love to our office. These boxes, filled with essentials and luxury items (put together by Kerry and her friends), will be distributed to communities affected by Australian disasters through Shoe Boxes of Love. This is such a great example of people making a difference!

21/02/2026

Happy Saturday! We've had a number of enquiries this week about how schools can get involved, so we thought we'd share some ideas. Student involvement is our absolute favourite (but 🤫 don't tell our other donors!).

Some of our favourite fundraisers over the past few years have included one school doing a Bake Sale, and another doing an Art Show, with both schools then using the funds to purchase items for their boxes. We also had another school using the inspiration from their collection to choreograph a performance and take out a National Raising Awareness Award at a national peforming arts event - truly inspirational!

You really are only limited by your imagination.

Please reach out if you have any questions, or access more information at https://www.shoeboxesoflove.org.au/schools-and-community-groups

Tag a Teacher or School contact if you would like to see your school involved!

03/02/2026

Can you help us? We want to let our amazing Emergency Service Personnel know how much we appreciate them! ❤️

You can help by donating any of the below items to our drop-off locations in Mt Barker or The Big Rocking Horse in Gumeracha.

We'll get them packed and delivered safely to the amazing crews!

Can't get there? Consider an online donation https://www.givenow.com.au/shoeboxesoflove20252026

Or a Click and Collect order for Mt Barker or Lobethal (just make sure you let us know the details).

If you're an Optometrist, or have access to multiple packs of eye washes, please reach out to the team!

01/02/2026

Welcome to all the new faces we're seeing pop up on our page! We are so glad you're here. Here's a short introduction to our work.

If you're a long term follower - we still love you!

30/01/2026

No small act of kindness is too small! ❤️

Have you witnessed a small act of kindness?
We'd love to hear it!

25/01/2026

In 30 minutes, the Australian of the Year Awards kick off in Canberra.

We are so thrilled to see two Founders of organisations we've supplied with shoe boxes of love over the past few years - Linda from Aussie Hay Runners (more recently for drought relief) and Theresa from Agape Outreach Inc (flood relief in 2022) - as Local Heroes for Victoria and NSW, respectively, and both in the running for Local Hero of the Year!

Good luck tonight, Linda and Theresa! We love your work ❤️

You can tune in live from 7.30pm (AEDT) on and ABC iview 📺✨

25/01/2026

A note from Kimberley:

On Friday night I had the honour of receiving an Award for Active Citizenship through Adelaide Hills Council for my work with Shoe Boxes of Love Inc.

What an unexpected, but beautiful surprise to even be nominated!

However, I really want to highlight that I couldn't do any of the work I do without a team of incredibly important people working alongside me - Marcus, my two beautiful children, and Pauline, and her family.

Shoe Boxes of Love is a labour of love - one we live, breathe, cry and bleed. It is one of constantly late nights and weekends, it's hot remote deliveries - sometimes without air-conditioning, dust, physical labour, and handling some often weird, and admittedly sometimes gross donations.

It's giving up nights after work and school, eating take away on the floor, not drinking nearly enough coffee, and travelling around the countryside during school holidays.

Despite all of the things I think might impact the kids negatively, they have been itching to be at the office, and when I announced we would head over last Thursday night, Miss M asked if we could get "dinner on the floor"... The things I worry are an affliction for them, are the very things they value and treasure.

Pauline echoed a similar sentiment too. I've watched her beautiful children grow up helping and living our cause too. That's pretty special.

Pauline doesn't love the spotlight which means I get all of the glory, but Shoe Boxes of Love wouldn't operate without her dedication, patience, and perseverance.

And I know SBOL often drives Marcus absolutely insane, but he is always there to supervise the kids while we're sorting, to pick up random deliveries from warehouses, to bounce ideas off, to pack thousands of boxes into packaging cartons and either roadtrip with me for delivery, or deliver them to our freight forwarder, and to proudly share our work.

For the past six months, we honestly thought we would need to fold because our funds had nearly dried up, and as each month passed, the reality became more heavy. I can't articulate how truly terrifying that's been.

Yet, Master T and Miss M have constantly nurtured a tiny glimmer of hope - offering their savings, to make videos for us to share, and to brainstorm ways to generate funds, because in their words: "We need to keep helping people".

They've seen the hard work, but they've also seen the end result...

Through Shoe Boxes of Love, we get to witness the most amazing side of humanity. I cannot put in to words how soul nourishing it is to witness the generosity that comes through our office. To meet like minded organisations - both those who collect for us, and those who distribute; to meet you, our beautiful donors; and to have friends and extended networks who share, donate, or support our work because they believe in what we do, and that truly is a privilege.

Through Shoe Boxes of Love, we get to witness Aussie generosity at its finest - reminding people, often when they are at their most vulnerable, that someone cares.

I am incredibly honoured. I am incredibly blessed. I am incredibly hopeful. But most of all, I am incredibly grateful. ❤️

21/01/2026

"Surround yourself with people who wish you well and lift you up..."

Around 15 months ago, we had the serendipitous introduction to the incredible team at Aussie Hay Runners.

We are beyond grateful for their partnership, friendship, support and generosity, through which we are now equipped to provide support to drought and disaster impacted communities for another year! ❤️

If you haven't already, please pop over and show them some love. They're an incredible, genuine team, doing amazing work and we are so incredibly grateful.

15/01/2026

How heart warming is this? Our friends at Aussie Hay Runners have a new "Cute Ute Crew" to help with hay deliveries in fire affected areas of Victoria.

You'll able to see 100+ of them if you're in Victoria on Saturday.

Disasters are devastating, but watching communities pull together with practical, timely, and effective support fills the soul.

Aussie Hay Runners are a DGR too, so if you're looking for alternative ways of supporting disaster relief efforts, 100% of your donation will go to buying hay. ❤️

Well it's official – we now have our very own “Cute Ute Crew” 😁

These legends have enabled us to get into places that our semis just cannot. Moreover, they're delivering from our depots out to farmers who they themselves have lost vehicles and machinery so just can't get in to collect.

To say we have been blown away by the response of everyone wanting to jump on board and help, it's an understatement. It is simply A-MAZ-ING 👌

This Saturday, 17th January, we have over 100, yes over 100 Utes and trailers driven by the most amazing selfless and supportive group of young people – it makes our hearts sing. Boys and girls will be lining up to deliver fodder to where it’s needed most – go you true blue Aussies 🇦🇺

After a hearty breakfast supplied by the wonderful Lions Club of Croydon- Mooroolbark, our semis, flat beds and the ‘Cute Ute Crew’ will leave Seville at 11am. They will then travel in convoy to Longwood, with the planned arrival time of 1:30pm where they'll be greeted by the Euroa Lions Club who just insisted they provide lunch 🍴

👀 So, if you’d like to catch them out on the road, here’s their route: Leave Seville 11am via the Warburton Highway; then travelling the Maroondah and Melba Highways. From Yea, they’ll take the Goulburn Valley Highway towards Seymour. Then onto the Hume Freeway to Longwood and surrounds 🛻💨

We are sure they'd love to see you as they pass through – so if you’re in the area, make sure you give them a big wave and a cheer 👍

Travel safely everyone and thank you for being the wonderful Aussies that you are and WELCOME to the Aussie Hay Runners team 💚

Oh, and one last thing, we’d like to acknowledge and sincerely thank all the people who are donating funds, please know your donations are being spent at the speed of lightening on hay, hay and more hay. It is because of you people we have trucks and utes on the road 🙏
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Lions Australia

15/01/2026

How beautiful is community? Tonight I arrived home to some thoughtful - in demand - items on our doorstep.

Gestures like this fill our hearts and ensure we can get the items most needed to those who need them. We are so grateful. ❤️

Our stealthy donor is a repeat offender. We think she's pretty special!