Operation Christmas Child shoebox campaign has begun

By Rob Vogt

It’s a chance to help children in less fortunate parts of the world. Operation Christmas Child’s annual shoebox campaign has started, offering the opportunity to help children across the globe. Annette Bordeleau and Judy Perison are organizing the campaign in Claresholm this year.

Bordeleau said people can pick up regular-sized shoeboxes at local pharmacies; local churches; Your Dollar Store With More; Flowers on 49th; ATB Financial; Antrée restaurant; Roy’s Place; Janet’s Fashions; Servus Credit Union; Cottonwood Village Retirement Residence; Porcupine Hills Lodge; Claresholm General Hospital; and the Claresholm Local Press.

They can then pack them with items to be sent to children in Ukraine; The Philippines; the West African countries of Senegal, Cape Verde, The Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau; and the Central American countries of El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.

The first step is to determine whether the shoebox will be for a boy or girl, aged two to four, five to nine, or 10 to 14. By far, boys 10 to 14 receive the least shoe box gifts.

Then it’s time to start packing. Select a quality “wow” item such as a doll, soccer ball with pump, or stuffed animal. The shoebox then can be filled with other fun toys, hygiene items, and school supplies.

Please do not include soap in particular, as well as candy; gum; toothpaste; used or damaged items; war-related items; food; seeds or organic matter; liquids; medications; money; breakable items; matches, fire starters or aerosols; or knives, saws, or razor blades.

Enclosing a personal note and picture is also encouraged to be included. A minimum $12 donation for each shoebox is also requested to help cover project costs from collection and shipping to training and distribution. Cheques or money orders are preferred. Please make one combined donation for multiple shoeboxes. Tax-deductible receipts will be issued for donations of $20 or more.

New this year is “Follow your box”. When you make that donation online, you will receive a special QR-code label to affix to your shoebox. After your gift has shipped across the globe, you will receive an email sharing its destination country.

People can also build a box online by visiting packabox.ca.

Packed shoeboxes can be dropped off at Faith Community Baptist Church, during business hours, from Nov. 17 to 23, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday to Friday, and 9 a.m. to 12 noon on Saturday and Sunday.

People can also provide their own shoeboxes or use small, shoebox-sized plastic tubs as well.

Last year a total of 162 shoeboxes were sent from Claresholm, not including those that were packed and sent online. A total of 11.9 million were collected worldwide, and 436,290 in Canada.

Anyone interested in more information can phone 403-625-3349 or visit samaritanspurse.ca/occ.

Bordeleau encourages everyone to consider packing a shoebox, because this may be one of the first gifts a child ever receives.

Perison said she used to pack shoeboxes with her children. “I wanted to teach them to give,” she said. Now, she is extending that to the entire community.

“It’s important that we (show) kindness and compassion for the less fortunate,” Bordeleau added.

Perison, Bordeleau and five other volunteers from the community will also be travelling to the Operation Christmas Child processing centre in Calgary on Nov. 29 to help out.

Operation Christmas Child is a hands-on project of Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian relief and development organization. Samaritan’s Purse began collecting shoebox gifts in 1993 in response to a request to fill shoeboxes with gifts for children in war-torn Bosnia. A total of 28,000 shoeboxes were sent to children in Bosnia that Christmas.

Since 1993, more than 232 million children in over 100 countries and territories have received a shoebox.