Samaritan’s Purse member explains details of Operation Christmas Child

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Frank King, news media relations officer for Samaritan’s Purse, sat down with Steve Berard on This Week in the Peace to discuss the details of Operation Christmas Child.

National Collection Week will be coming up next month from Monday, November 18th to Sunday, November 24th.

Samaritan’s Purse is a Christian organization that provides spiritual and physical aid to hurting people worldwide. King says Samaritan’s Purse is also actively helping with disaster relief in Florida from Hurricane Helen. 

Operation Christmas Child, run under Samaritan’s Purse, is intended to deliver shoe boxes full of gifts to children worldwide.

According to King, hundreds of thousands of Canadians fill shoe boxes every year, which are then shipped to children in need worldwide.

“These gift-filled shoe boxes, in many cases, will be the first gifts these children will have ever received,” said King.

Donations will be accepted during collection week at the Fort St. John Alliance Church drop-off location at 9804 99th Avenue.

After being collected, the shoe boxes are sent to a processing centre in Calgary, where volunteers inspect them to ensure the donated items are safe for children.

King says the items then go to kids in Central America, Ukraine, the Philippines, and West Africa. 

Residents are invited to gather materials like school supplies, toys, and hygiene products, put them in a shoebox, label whether the box is packed for a boy or girl and the age category, and deliver the items to the closest drop-off location.

Due to concerns about shipping, ensuring proper delivery, or allowing the gifts to arrive at convenient times for children who don’t celebrate Christmas, the gifts will be distributed over the following year. 

“The idea of being able to get shoe boxes from Canada to Ukraine or the Philippines into children’s hands in less than a month is simply not realistic,” said King. 

King also thanked the Fort St. John community for their contributions this year and in the past.

“I know they will do it through the future. It’s folks like your listeners [Fort St. John residents] that make this program possible,” said King.

Since 1993, more than 220 million children in more than 170 countries and territories have received an Operation Christmas Child shoebox.

In February, residents packed nearly 1,500 shoeboxes for the operation.

“Whenever these kids get the shoe boxes in December or during an August heat wave, it’s still an amazing gift for them from people they have never met, in a country they may have never even heard of before,” King explained.

“It’s a great way for us as a Christian organization to show them Canadians know about how they are living and not forgotten them, and we believe as Christians that God knows about them and is using Operation Christmas Child to let them know He hasn’t forgotten about them.” 

Volunteers are needed across Canada, and anyone looking to help or learn more about Samaritan’s Purse can visit their website. 

Anyone unable to donate gifts through the drop-off can also participate through packabox.ca 

British Columbians packed 53,945 shoeboxes in 2023 — a three per cent increase over 2022.