A Shoebox of Hope

For the past 10 years, I have been involved with an amazing program called Operation Christmas Child. This program allows you to create gift boxes for children who will not receive Christmas presents. These children could have been born into poverty or had their lives suddenly shaken by a natural disaster.

Last December, I went with around 60 other people to help deliver the gifts to children in Argentina. I got to see how joyful people are, even when they have nothing. It’s amazing that such a simple gift can make a child so happy. The only words you hear are “thank you,” as the children try to share the candy from their presents. The boxes the children receive are filled with items like school supplies, toothbrushes and simple toys, yet it means so much to them.

Originally, my family and I started participating with Operation Christmas Child as a homeschooling project. We started off with around 20 boxes and the support of family and friends. Donations grew as the word spread about what we were doing. This allowed us to set higher goals every year on how many shoeboxes we wanted to create. Last year our goal was 300 shoeboxes, but during a community “Build a Box” event, we had almost reached our goal in the first night (and my hometown of Fox Creek has a population of only 2,500)! It was amazing how many people showed up to build the boxes. By the end of our two-day community adventure, there were 477 shoeboxes for children around the world. This year my goal is 1,000 shoeboxes.

Getting together to build a box for someone who has never received a gift is fun and makes at least two people in the world happy: the person creating the gift and the child who receives it. I’m always smiling when I shop and build a shoebox – to think how simple the gift really is but how much joy it can bring. In a world of sadness and despair, a gift can make someone’s day, bringing them hope for a better tomorrow and urging them to face another day.

If you would like to build a box this year, visit: www.samaritanspurse.ca/occ/shoebox.