The Thursday morning ladies’ group at Slave Lake’s Alliance church has begun its Christmas shopping, and members are encouraging residents in the community and around the region to help spread smiles around the world this Christmas.
It’s easy, says Operation Christmas Child co-ordinator Samantha Dyck, adding that in the past decade residents in this area have proved to “suffering children around the world that someone in Canada cares for them.”
They’ve proved that, says Dyck, by working the ‘kids helping kids’ principle. That includes sending shoe boxes filled with everything from school supplies to small toys, T-shirts and even hard candies to children around the world.
The promotion, says a release from Operation Christmas Child, “encourages Canadian children to look beyond their own Christmas wish list to the needy children around the world, many of whom have never received a Christmas gift.”
Dyck says the boxes are now available at the Alliance church and must be returned by Nov. 13 so they can be forwarded to the Samaritan’s Purse processing centre in Calgary by Nov. 15.
This year organizers expect Canadians and residents from another 10 countries will fill seven million boxes for distribution to disadvantaged children around the world “where conflict, poverty, famine and war are a part of life.”
Those spots include everywhere from Argentina to Guatemala and Ivory Coast to Nicaragua, Trinidad and Tobago.
The shoeboxes are for boys and girls up to the age of 14 years, but Samaritan’s Purse representatives say for some unknown reason, “there are especially too few shoe boxes for boys aged 10-14 years.
Many might find the age difficult to buy for, but one “participant chose to use a tool box instead of a shoe box to pack the gifts in.
“Along with some toys and clothes and hygiene items, the tool box contained a few basic tools for fixing cars!”

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