If you’re looking to do some good for a child in need this holiday season, Operation Christmas Child has boxes to fill.
The annual project, run through Christian relief and development organization Samaritan’s Purse, ships shoeboxes full of toys, school supplies and hygiene items to children in need around the world.
But first, the boxes have to be filled.
Local volunteers have teamed up with several retail locations in the Parksville Qualicum Beach area, including the Fields store, as well as most of the churches in the area to provide shoeboxes. They are currently available for pick-up, though people interested in participating may use their own shoeboxes, said Anna Cook, logistics coordinator.
Items that can be packed into shoeboxes include candles, glue sticks, markers, sewing kits, toys (though not war-related or frightening), crayons and more. Items that shouldn’t be packed include things such as candy, furs, food, glow sticks, sea shells, toothpaste and decks of cards.
The boxes get shipped to children in war-torn and struggling communities such as Haiti, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Gambia, Sierra Leone, the Ukraine.
Cook, who’s been volunteering with Operation Christmas Child for five years, said this project means so much to her because it gives kids in terrible situations “hope that there is somebody out there that still loves them.”
The filled shoeboxes must be brought to the local collection centre at Parksville Fellowship Baptist Church at 550 Pym St. in Parksville between Nov. 13-18, between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., or Nov. 18 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For more information, contact the local collection team at 250-927-0116 or go to www.samaritanspurse.ca.
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