Bosses launch Shoebox Appeal for flood victims

HIGH profile businesswoman Nighat Awan is leading a charity appeal to help the victims of the Pakistan floods.

The founder of the Shere Khan Group has teamed up with Manchester-based Asian Sound Radio and Pakistan International Airlines to launch the Shoebox Appeal.

Manchester-born to Pakistani parents Mrs Awan said: “This is a tragedy that transcends nationality or faith. We are asking everyone who can make even the smallest contribution to help us.”

The appeal takes its name from the fact that organisers are asking individuals to put  food parcels shoe boxes,  which can be dropped off at shops around the region and then easily transported and distributed to the millions of people affected by the crisis.

Mrs Awan added: “We believe the Shoebox Food Flood Appeal can make a huge difference, really quickly.  Rather than giving money, the contents of these shoeboxes will be delivered straight to those who really need it – instantly providing much needed calories and nutrition.”

Shujat Ali, chief executive of Asian Sound Radio (ASR), added: “It is difficult for us, here in England, to imagine the horrors faced each day by the victims of the floods – many of those worse affected are children and the elderly. Already more than 20 million people have been affected and the worst is still to come.”

Volunteers from Human Appeal International will collect the boxes from across the North West, they will then be sorted and put onto pallets by workers from the National Police Aid Convoys and shipped, initially, from Manchester Airport.

When the pallets arrive in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, the shoeboxes will be distributed by the Pakistan Red Cross, the Pakistani Army and other local organisations.

For more information or to get involved call 0161 288 9000.