Last week, 13 ladies from Bethany Baptist Church and Pentecostal Christian Life Assembly in Barriere got together to make up 22 shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child.
Operation Christmas Child was started in 1990, and brings joy and hope to children in desperate situations around the world through gift-filled shoe boxes and the message of God’s unconditional love.
In 1993, Operation Christmas Child was adopted by Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian organization run by Franklin Graham. Local groups and individuals take part in this, by filling shoe boxes and sending them to Samaritan’s Purse; along with a donation of $7 per box which helps in covering the project costs and shipping.
The Barriere group of ladies decided on whether the boxes would be for a boy or a girl, and the child’s age category: 2-4, 5-9, or 10-14. Each shoe box gift was then filled with hygiene items, school supplies, toys, and candy, and will be shipped off to Samaritan’s Purse, who will forward them on to the children.
The week of Nov. 19 - 25 is National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child, and the goal of the organization is to reach one hundred million shoe boxes.
Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes from Canada collected in 2012 will be distributed to the following countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
In 2011, over 672,000 shoe boxes were collected in Canada.
You can learn more by going to: www.samaritanspurse.ca/operation-christmas-child/