Shoeboxes, more than 900 of them, packed with school supplies, gifts and goodies, left the Coast in November, on their way to bring some Christmas cheer to children in South and Central America.
"So Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Chile, Brazil, Paraguay - all of those places could receive shoeboxes from the Coast," said local Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child shoebox co-ordinator Martha Schroth.
Every year Schroth leads the charge to collect as many boxes filled with Christmas gifts as possible. Those who choose to pack a box spend as little or as much as they wish to fill the box with essential items like a toothbrush and toothpaste, a comb and soap and school supplies like pens, pencils and paper. Packers are also encouraged to add things like toys, stuffies, musical instruments and hard candies to make the present more fun for the kids who receive them.
Schroth collects the boxes and then ships them off to Samaritan's Purse for distribution to the world's neediest children.
More than 670,000 children received a box this Christmas, and for many of them, it was the only Christmas present they've ever received.
"For children living in situations of war, poverty, disease, famine and natural disaster, this shoebox gift may be the only gift they've ever been given," the Samaritan's Purse Canada website noted.
Schroth was thankful for the Coast's support of the shoebox program in 2011, but noted the number of donations was down considerably from 1,101 in 2010 to 941 in 2011.
"I don't know why there was a decline. We certainly had new people who hadn't heard about it before and we also had regulars who did it from before, so I don't know. Maybe people are watching their spending. I didn't really get a feedback or a sense of why," Schroth said.
On the positive side, the total number of boxes donated by Canadians was up in 2011 - 669,004 boxes were packed compared to 640,714 in 2010.
Schroth is already planning for the 2012 collection. Her team of volunteers may be doing some fundraisers this year to help provide more boxes for needy children around the world.
If you want to help, you can contact Schroth at 604-886-8545 or find out more about Operation Christmas Child at www.samaritanspurse.ca.
