The Canada-wide Operation Christmas Child shoebox collection season - an annual initiative of Samaritan's Purse Canada - is starting now as thousands of individuals, families, churches, businesses, sports teams, and community groups begin packing shoeboxes with toys, school supplies, and hygiene items, plus personal notes and photos.
Last year Sunshine Coast residents shipped 837 gift filled shoeboxes and this year organizers are hoping to reach 1,000 boxes.
You can pick up a box Gibsons Building Supplies (both locations) Marketplace IGA, local churches, the local collection centre is Calvary Baptist Church, 711 Park Road in Gibsons, or you can call local co-ordinator, Martha Schroth at 604-886-8545 if you need boxes or have questions.
Samaritan's Purse will deliver the gift-filled shoeboxes to children around the world living in the midst of poverty, disease, war, and natural disaster.
Last year, Canadians filled more than 662,000 shoeboxes with gifts that shared God's love and hope with children in the developing world. And since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has collected and distributed more than 100 million shoebox gifts around the globe.
The shoebox is just the beginning: for two decades, Operation Christmas Child has been a vital project of Samaritan's Purse. The Christian relief and development organization provides physical and spiritual aid to hurting people worldwide. Gift-filled shoeboxes open doors for Samaritan's Purse to provide other help to children, their families, and their communities in the form of clean water, literacy and job skills initiatives, feeding programs, medical care, and more.
To learn more, visit www.SamaritansPurse.ca/OCC.
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