Landmark OCC Shoebox Store volunteers head to Calgary for the 15th year

For the 15th consecutive year, a group from Landmark travelled to Calgary to spend two days helping children in need at the Samaritan’s Purse processing centre.

A Samaritan's Purse source says that ten Landmark residents spent November 24 and 25 inspecting Operation Christmas Child 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.

Landmark Operation Christmas Child Shoebox store coordinator, Ina Reimer was in the group in Calgary and said,

“One of the biggest reasons we come to the processing centre is we want to be current and see what’s going in shoeboxes.”

This year, Ina and her husband, Larry, packed 175 Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes with toys, school supplies and hygiene items.

Ina and Larry plan to increase their involvement with Operation Christmas Child after Larry retires from their home building business.

“This program brings hope to children in need, their families and their communities,” Reimer explained. “We want them to know they haven’t been forgotten by Canadians, and God hasn’t forgotten them, either.”

If you would like to put together an Operation Christmas Child Shoebox, visit www.PackaBox.ca and pack one online.

Steinbachonline does not yet have the total number of shoeboxes collected from residents in southeastern Manitoba. 

Photos in the gallery below are courtesy of Ina Reimer.

The photos were taken on November 19 at the Landmark Christian Fellowship Church. Reimer noted on a social media post, that the pick-up of the shoeboxes collected in the southeast may have been delayed a few hours due to the semi-truck having a flat tire, just before sunset on Sunday all the boxes were prayed over, and safely and securely left the church and on their way to the Calgary Samaritan's Purse processing centre. 

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