TODDLERS tied down in rows of Victorian hospital beds, families crammed into single room homes and children abandoned by parents addicted to alcohol and drugs.

On the surface it can be hard to see exactly how a shoebox filled with gifts for children aged between two and 14 can help solve the problems facing hundreds of thousands of young people in the Ukraine today.

Spending a week travelling through the Crimea, the country’s southern peninsula, you come face to face with some of the nightmare conditions encountered by thousands of people every day.

After travelling 1,700 miles from the UK to personally hand over some of the 93,000 shoeboxes filled with gifts, the team arrived in the city of Yalta.

Our first stop, a hospital for children with tuberculosis of the bones and other orthopaedic conditions, illustrated some of the country’s social problems.

Click HERE for 'Corey in Crimea' blog

Beds were crammed together in one ward as boys and girls eagerly accepted the presents and excitedly compared each other’s prizes.

But in another room, children as young as three were strapped into rows of beds with their legs in cast and weights hanging off the old-fashioned metal frame, to stop them making any movement which might injure their diseased limbs.

“I’ve been to the Ukraine before but I’d never seen anything like that,” said distribution team leader Gordon McCann.

“I know there are reasons for it but it’s still a shock,” he added.

The children were strapped in to prevent injuries to limbs from conditions such as tuberculosis which, according to Dr Peter Izergin, is a serious problem in the Ukraine.

Dr Izergin said cases of the condition were almost at endemic proportions but the Government refused to reveal figures in case it jeopardised the country’s chances of being accepted in the European Union.

The desire for the Ukraine to show its best side is rooted firmly in society.

As we visited children’s homes, boarding schools, orphanages and families, those who knew we were coming were dressed in their best clothes and many had prepared a short presentation or musical performance as a thank you.

But behind the smiles and smart clothes – which at one point left us questioning if the donated clothes, toys, sweets and hygiene items were really needed – were distressing hidden truths.

Diseases such as tuberculosis are so prevalent around cities and towns such as the capital Simferopol, it is easy to see why addiction to alcohol has turned the country into one which depends on churches, schools and social workers for help.

The problem is partly explained by how easy cheap booze is to get hold of.

A quick stop at the nearest corner shop reveals that you can buy £30 worth of vodka for the equivalent of £3, the same as a couple of packets of biscuits.

Alcohol, gambling and in some cases drug addiction, mean many families are without fathers and the Government does not hesitate to step in and remove children from a parent they think is unable to raise them.

This means thousands of youngsters are raised in internats – boarding schools and orphanages for poor families.

Here, despite being cared for and educated, children receive much less attention.

One teacher said about 90 per cent of these youngsters end up on the streets when they reach adulthood and fall victim to the same problems which brought them into the hands of the Government care system in the first place.

It is through visiting these centres and homes throughout Crimea, Ukraine and the rest of Europe that Samaritan’s Purse believes Operation Christmas Child can make a difference.

“A major reason we do these visits is so that people actually see the children,” said Mr McCann.

“It is also so they and other people can see that their donations actually go to the children.

“You can see the results and how happy it makes them which is more than you get when you just hand over money.”

Mr McCann said the appeal also aimed to create links between local churches and residents in need of help.

“By sending them boxes, the churches meet these people. Hopefully that means families who need support will become known to pastors locally,” he added.

As shoeboxes continue to make their way to children across Europe, organisers are already looking to the 2009 collections and distributions.

“We sent more than 93,000 boxes to the Ukraine but some 170,000 people actually applied for them. That’s how important they are and that shows how great the need to keep doing this is,” he said.