Shoebox campaign opens for Operation Christmas Child

Times Photo Submitted by Frank King. SURPRISE IN SHOEBOXES: Children open Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes in Costa Rica.

By Heather Cameron
Taber Times
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

From November 18 to November 24, Taber Evangelical Free Church will serve as a drop-off location for Operational Christmas Child shoeboxes from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, November 18 through Friday, November 22, and 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Sunday, November 24.

Frank King, News Media Relations Manager for Samaritan’s Purse Canada, says that Operation Christmas Child is an annual initiative of Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian relief organization that works in more than 100 countries. Samaritan’s Purse, King says, is a Christian relief and development organization that gets its name from Jesus Christ’s Parable of the Good Samaritan and aids victims of war, disease, disaster, poverty, famine, and persecution with work including Operation Christmas Child, and providing safe water, vocational skills, and agricultural supplies and training to families in the developing world.

Operation Christmas Child, King says, has been around since 1993 and has collected and distributed more than 200 million shoebox gifts in more than 130 countries. 

According to the Samaritans Purse website: SamaritansPurse.ca, the shoeboxes themselves should be average-sized or plastic and have a Boy or Girl label clearly attached to them once they are filled. The shoeboxes themselves, the website says, should be filled with toys including small dolls, stuffed animals, socks, hair clips, musical instruments, puzzles, and jump ropes; school supplies including pencils, pens, crayons, pencil crayons, notebooks, and coloring books; non-liquid hygiene items including toothbrushes, bar soap, washcloths, and combs; and a personal note and photo. 

The website also clearly states that food or candy, toothpaste, used items, breakable items, decks of poker playing cards, items that could leak, melt, or freeze, items that could scare or harm a child including war-related toys, knives, and guns, should not be included in the boxes.

The boxes, the website states, should also include a $10 donation per box either donated online at SamaritansPurse.ca or a cheque or cash donation can be placed inside the shoebox atop the donated items, with tax deductible receipts being issue for donations of $20 or more. The website also asks that one combined donation is made for multiple shoeboxes.

When the shoeboxes are ready for drop-off, the website says, they can be taken to the drop-off location during National Shoebox Collection Week November 18-24 and there will be hundreds of drop-off locations throughout Canada, including the Taber location, and online at PackABox.ca.

“Struggling children and families need hope,” said Kendra Shields, director of Operation Christmas Child, in a media release about Operation Christmas Child. “This is the essence of Operation Christmas Child. Every shoebox gift is an opportunity for a child to learn that he or she matters to Canadians and, most importantly, matters to God. That’s why I want everyone to help as many children in need as possible by packing shoeboxes.”