Six people from Grunthal spent a couple days in Calgary recently to help sort Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes that are packed with items for children in other countries.
The group, all members of Grunthal Christian Mennonite conference, spent Dec. 8 and 9 inspecting shoeboxes before they are packed in cartons and transported to Central America, West Africa, Philippines and Ukraine. There, they will be given to children who in many cases have never received a gift in their lives.
The church has sent people to volunteer in the Calgary warehouse for at least 10 years. This year, church members packed 150 Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.
Jess Hiebert has now made the 1,400-kilometre trip to the Samaritan’s Purse processing centre seven times.
“The cost and inconvenience of coming here is nothing,” she says. “It’s amazing and wonderful to see the joy everybody in the processing centre has to give to others.”
Hiebert packed five boxes this year with school supplies, hygiene items and toys. Earlier this year, she travelled to Costa Rica to help distribute Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes to children.
“I love Samaritan’s Purse,” she said. “I love what it does and how it works with locals to help them. There’s thought and intention behind every action.”
Visit www.packabox.ca to pack Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes online.
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