20 YEARS OF JOY Santa Shoebox Project: The Vaal Triangle Needs You

It started in a cupboard. A mother looked at toys her children had not touched, clothing barely worn, things sitting on shelves collecting dust while somewhere not far away a child had never owned anything new. That gap between what her family had and what another family lacked became the spark for something that has now, twenty years later, reached 1.5 million children across South Africa. The Santa Shoebox Project did not begin with a boardroom strategy. It began with a question: what if we actually did something about it?

Margie Kostelac, the Gauteng Head Coordinator for the Santa Shoebox Project, joined Carlett on JustGospel with an update that was part celebration, part urgent call to action. The project is turning 20 in 2026. The Vaal Triangle is ready to receive shoeboxes. But right now, it has no team. And that is where you come in.

What Is the Santa Shoebox Project?

The concept is beautifully simple. You take a shoebox. You decorate it. You fill it with eight specific brand new items. You go online to santashoebox.org.za, you choose your area, and you pledge a name, age and gender for the child who will receive it. Then you drop it off at your local collection point in the last weekend of October, and it gets delivered to an underprivileged child in your community before the schools close for the December holidays.

"These children do not receive new stuff. They are so used to hand-me-downs and second-hand items. And to see the joy and absolute delight from a two-year-old to an eighteen-year-old getting a box that is completely theirs, with these items inside, there are no words to explain that feeling."

Margie Kostelac, Santa Shoebox Project

That detail about choosing a name, age and gender is not just an administrative nicety. It is what makes the Santa Shoebox Project different. A mother can go online with her own eight-year-old daughter and choose to pack a box for another eight-year-old girl in their community. It becomes a lesson in empathy. A moment where privilege becomes responsibility. A child who has too much packs a box for a child who has very little, and something shifts in both of them.

The Eight Items: What Goes in the Box

Every item is chosen with intention. The hygiene items, the toothbrush and soap and face cloth, came about when caregivers at local facilities explained that while clothing and toys were wonderful, what many children genuinely lacked was the basic means to care for themselves with dignity. The stationery is age-appropriate for school. The toy is matched to the child's age. And everything, without exception, is brand new.

Where Did It All Begin?

Twenty years ago, in 2006, the project launched with very few boxes and a single drop-off point in Cape Town. The origin story is one that Margie tells with visible affection. A mother decided to involve her children in the act of giving. She spoke to a few other moms at school. She found a nearby facility. She asked the caregivers there what the children actually needed. Then her daughter went looking for a container and came out of a cupboard with an empty shoebox. What about decorating it and filling it with goodies?

From that one cupboard, one shoebox, and one conversation, the project has now reached 1.5 million children. And the most remarkable part of the legacy? Recipients come back. Children who received a Santa Shoebox years ago, now grown up, return as donors. They remember the box. They remember what it felt like. And they want another child to feel the same thing.

The Vaal Triangle Has No Team: This Is the Call

Margie was refreshingly direct about this. The Vaal Triangle is ready. The community is generous. JustGospel listeners give with their whole hearts. But without a local volunteer team, the boxes cannot be collected, packed and distributed. The children in this community will not receive a box. That is the gap. And that gap is closed by people, not programmes.

"We require volunteers: people from the community that live in the area that are able to help us achieve the child receiving that beautifully packed box that is filled with love, hope, dignity and just making them feel special."

Margie Kostelac

Volunteering does not require previous experience, special skills or large blocks of time. It requires presence, willingness and a desire to see a child in your community receive something extraordinary. If you are in the Vaal Triangle, the Vereeniging, Meyerton or Vanderbijlpark area, you are exactly who the Santa Shoebox Project is looking for right now.

Three Ways to Get Involved

How to Register Right Now

Beyond the Box: Education, Reading Corners and ECD Centres

The virtual shoebox does more than reach rural children. A percentage of the funds goes directly into the Santa Shoebox legacy programme, which includes further education and training for caregivers, the establishment of reading corners, and the building of ECD centres. Every R500 virtual pledge ripples further than the single child who receives the box. It helps the adults who care for those children become better equipped, better resourced and better able to create environments where learning can actually happen.

And if a full virtual box is beyond your budget right now, Margie was clear: any donation is welcome. No amount is too small. Every rand that comes in goes into the legacy, into the programmes, into books and training and the infrastructure that holds communities together.

This interview was broadcast live on JustGospel, hosted by Carlett Badenhorst. The JustGospel Foundation NPC is community-focused and actively supports initiatives that serve the Vaal Triangle. Listen live at justgospelrtv.co.za or find us on Spotify.