Operation Christmas Child shoebox collection kicks off next week

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on November 10, 2022.

Samaritan's Purse photo Chilren in the West African country of Senegal receive their Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes in a previous year.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

With the Christmas holidays around the corner, Canada’s 2022 Operation Christmas Child shoebox collection season is underway, and their collection week runs from Nov. 14 to Nov. 20.

Operation Christmas Child is an annual initiative of Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian relief organization that works in more than 100 countries.

Last year, Canadians filled more than 413,000 shoeboxes with gifts distributed among struggling children in West Africa and Central America.

Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has collected and distributed almost 200 million shoebox gifts in more than 100 countries.

“Generous Canadians across the country pack shoeboxes with school supplies, hygiene items and toys, and they drop off these boxes at drop off locations across the country. From there shoeboxes are shipped to our Calgary warehouse where thousands of volunteers will inspect every shoebox to make sure there’s nothing inside that could scare or harm a child, or stop the boxes from getting through customs,” said Frank King, news media relations manager, Samaritan’s Purse Canada.

He said after they are inspected they are shipped down to countries in Central America such as El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and they are also shipped to West African countries like Senegal.

“The neat thing is that for many of these children, the shoebox gifts will be the very first gift they will have ever received,” said King.

He said they were able to continue the operation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, even though the pandemic affected the number of shoeboxes that Canadians were able to pack, but they had the option to pack a box online.

“During the pandemic the number of shoeboxes packed for children in need by Canadians online skyrocketed, and we’re very grateful for that and now that the pandemic is basically over, we are back to full steam ahead and looking forward to getting tens of thousands of shoeboxes arriving here at our Calgary warehouse in the next week to two weeks,” said King.

Those interested in packing a shoebox online can visit packabox.ca, and for information on what can be packed in a physical shoebox or general information about the operation, those interested can visit samaritanspurse.ca

King said Canadians can pack a shoebox online any time of the year.

“If they wake up in the middle of the night on a sweaty August night and they suddenly feel the urge to help children in need, they can go to packabox.ca right then and there and pack it right in the middle of the night,” said King.

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