On Wednesday, Nov. 18, fourteen Barrierites gathered together to make up a number of shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child.
Operation Christmas Child was started in 1990. In 1993, Operation Christmas Child grew and was adopted by Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian organization run by Franklin Graham.
To date, Operation Christmas Child has collected and distributed over 100 million shoe box gifts worldwide. In 2014, Canadians donated more than 700,474 Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes for hurting children around the world.
Here in Barriere, they beat last year’s total of 39, making up 51 boxes this year; and they even ended up with enough left overs to give next year’s boxes a head start.
The group spent one and a quarter hours filling the boxes, and then socialized for another 45 minutes, enjoying tea and goodies.
“Just a fun couple of hours and 51 kids will be blessed this Christmas”, stated organizer Julia Hetu.