Shoebox Program – Operation Christmas Child

CHESTERMERE – Although the official program has ended, each year the General Store in the Chestermere Station becomes a drop off point for the hundreds of shoeboxes that are donated to children around the world for Operation Christmas Child. Julie Rintoul, owner of the General Store, has been the collection point for the shoeboxes for 6 years and is pleased with the continued positive response from Chestermere. Normally Rintoul would deliver about 100 boxes to the main warehouse for distribution but this year only 57 boxes were delivered. Rintoul says many local schools are participating in the program now and attributes the downturn at her store to the schools involvement. Regardless of the collection point, kids around the world are enjoying the generosity of others.
Operation Christmas Child was started in 1990 and in 1993, Operation Christmas Child grew and was adopted by Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian organization run by Franklin Graham. In 2012, Operation Christmas Child will collect their 100 millionth shoe box gift. To date, Operation Christmas Child has collected and distributed over 94 million shoe box gifts worldwide. Each shoe box gift is filled with hygiene items, school supplies, toys, and candy, is given to children regardless of gender, race, religion, or age. Kids are the best shoppers to pick out things for the boxes as they know what other kids would enjoy.
Canada collected 672,274 shoe boxes in in the 2011 season.
The shoe box is just the beginning, because Operation Christmas Child is creating opportunities for Samaritan’s Purse to provide other help to children, their families, and their communities through clean drinking water, literacy and job skills initiatives, feeding programs, medical care, and more.
You can still donate a shoebox on-line by going to their website at www.samaritanspurse.ca