Annie Carson must have one of the biggest hearts in Fermanagh, and this is plain to see when you drop in to her home, where what was once the ‘good room’ is now a workstation stacked full of items for her annual shoe box appeal.

Indeed, it's that overflowing generosity which has seen the remarkable 90-year-old shortlisted for the Impartial Reporter's Community Champion awards, in association with Encirc, in the 'Heart of Gold' category.

Teddy bears, socks, colouring pencils, soap, toothbrushes, and knitted items including clothes, scarves and hats, cover the table in her ‘factory’ in her Maguiresbridge home.

Gesturing at a box open on one of the tables in the room, Mrs. Carson said: “This is number 11.”

Explaining the contents of the tightly-packed box, Mrs. Carson said it is set for a young boy, with a scarf knitted by her, exercise books, reading books with happy pictures (as the boxes' recipients may not speak English), a pencil case filled with stationary, a cup for drinking water, soap, toys and a whole host of other items.

Mrs. Carson first started packing such boxes in 2006. “It started going with Mother’s Union. I am a member of Derrybrusk MU. The most I have ever done is more than 100 boxes.”

She is a modest lady, but her family estimates that she filled 160 boxes in 2020.

“I did 60 last year, and I have been doing 50 for the last couple of years. I used to go and buy the stuff myself, but now people have started to give me stuff.”

She also knits cloths to sell locally to raise money to put toward the boxes. Mrs. Carson added: “My family, if they see a bargain, they come and bring it to me!”

When asked when she stops filling the boxes, Mrs. Carson replied with a simple: “When they are full.”

She enjoys seeing videos of children around the world receiving the boxes.

“They [the shoe box distributors] don’t tell you where the boxes will go. Last year they went to Bosnia. They don’t go to the same place all the time; they went to Mozambique, Syria, Papua New Guinea.”

There is a simple reason why Mrs. Carson takes part in the appeal, as she knows how it feels not to get a present at Christmas.

“When we were young, my mother died, and we never got anything for Christmas, there was nothing to give to us.

"I thought later on in life about mummy not being there, and us not getting anything, so this started off small.

"I like to make sure others get, because I know how it feels not to get.”

Mrs. Carson said she was very surprised to hear she had been shortlisted for the Heart of Gold award. Her family remarked that many people have expressed their well wishes for her.

Mrs. Carson hopes to have the current batch filled for October, before they are picked up by the shoe box charity, Samaritan's Purse.

She will then begin collecting for next year’s boxes shortly after Christmas, and has been known to pick up bargains in Boxing Day sales.

Others nominated in the Heart of Gold category include Annette Murphy, Genevieve Irvine, John Shades and Noelle McAlinden.