WESTLOCK — For many children in need around the world this Christmas, love will come in a shoebox. The 2022 Operation Christmas Child campaign will be collecting filled shoeboxes during its national collection week, Nov. 14-20. In Westlock, residents can drop off shoeboxes filled with toys, hygiene items, school supplies and other practical gifts Nov. 14-19 between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. and again on Nov. 17 from 6-8 p.m. at the Westlock Gospel Chapel — see more here.
Operation Christmas Child is an annual initiative of Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian relief organization that works in more than 100 countries. This year, Canada will send filled shoeboxes to kids in need in Central and South America, the Philippines and war-torn Ukraine. Globally, since the campaign began, about 198 million children have received a shoebox.
“It’s for children in impoverished and war-torn areas,” explained Carol van Ruskenveld, who’s handling media relations for the Westlock campaign. “This may be the only gift they ever get in their whole life.”
Operation Christmas Child began in Canada in 1993 and a year later the Westlock Gospel Chapel joined in. Over the years Westlock residents have been extremely generous, filling an average of 1,000 shoeboxes annually and over 25,000 during the life of the campaign.
“This is our big collection week, when people really get them filled and bring them in but we do have people that collect items year-round. On Nov. 20 the boxes will be taken to Calgary, which is the national collection centre.”
van Ruskenveld also noted that people can also pack a shoebox online and follow it to the country that it’s going to — see www.packabox.ca for more.
“If you do that, you can pay for it online, pick out the items you want, and they’ll pack them for you. And you can track your shoebox … it’s really more popular now because it is so easy,” she added.
