Airdrie residents packed 2,196 shoeboxes filled with toys, school supplies, and hygiene items for children in need living in Central America and French-speaking West Africa last year, as part of Samaritan’s Purse of Canada’s annual Operation Christmas Child.
The total shoeboxes account for a seven per cent increase from 2020 figures, when residents packed a total of 2,054 boxes for children in need.
Nationally, Canadians packed 413,875 – 40,000 more than 2020's Canadian shoebox total. Provincially, Albertans contributed 80,121 shoeboxes full of goods for children in need – a seven per cent increase from 2020, when Albertans packed a total of 74,791 boxes.
According to Frank King, news media relations manager at Samaritan’s Purse Canada, the increase in donations can be attributed to the economic and social recovery felt last year during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Last year’s number was down, and we expected it to be because of all the restrictions and the fears and the discomforts about this endless pandemic,” King said. “We were thrilled to get anything because of the way the world was last year.
“A year later, we’re just more comfortable with the way life has been with the pandemic. I think the fear has decreased.”
He added residents are increasingly comfortable in going out and shopping for the various elements to complete a shoebox, packing them up, and shipping them off, whereas they may not have been as comfortable to do so the year before.
King said the charitable organization developed an online shoebox packing program called “Pack-a-Box,” which allows people to pack a shoebox any time of the year, and online for added convenience. According to King, the number of “Pack-a-Box" donations has also increased in recent years.
“The nice thing is that number increased dramatically [in 2020], and while it wasn’t quite as high this year, it was still better than it was in 2019,” he said. “So, we’re thrilled to see that Canadians are continuing to see the convenience and safety of being able to pack all your shoeboxes online.”
He said the Operation Christmas Child program started approximately seven or eight years ago and has been growing in popularity steadily every year since, but it took off “big time” in 2020 because of the pandemic.
King added the shoeboxes are sent out and distributed to children in various countries throughout the year.
“You can be in the middle of an August heatwave or swept up in a storm and you can sit down on your phone or laptop, or your desktop, and you can help children in need by packing shoeboxes full of hygiene items, school supplies and clothes and toys,” he said.
Before the pandemic, many Canadians went on trips with the Samaritan’s Purse team to help distribute the shoeboxes to children. King said in many instances, those children had never received a gift before in their lifetime.
“A lot of countries where the shoeboxes are going do not celebrate Christmas, so whether they get the box in December or in the middle of August, it’s still a fantastic gift for someone they’re probably never going to meet in a country they may have not even heard of before,” he said.
“It’s a great way to show [children in need] people in Canada care about them and because we are a Christian organization, we can confidently say that God cares about them, and God has not forgotten about them in the middle of all their challenges.”
He added as much as things have been a struggle for Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic, things have been much harder on those in developing nations.
“Whether or not there’s a pandemic on, these children need hope. They need to know things can be better, they can hope to have a better life,” he said.
He added Operation Christmas Child often opens doors for Samaritan's Purse to work with community leaders in developing nations or find out the need of the community for safe water, literacy, training, emergency food, and agricultural supplies.
“All those things often happen after we’ve come in and distributed shoeboxes because we’ve established that relationship with the community leaders,” he said. “And we start to work with them and partner with them so they can help themselves – it's a great door opener to help communities in other ways.”
He added many people who donate shoeboxes to charity do so all year, and even keep their eyes open for specials at the Dollar Store or Wal-Mart, creating assembly lines to pack hundreds of shoeboxes for children in need.
“We’re blessed beyond all measure for these wonderful people who see the value of giving children in need some real hope,” he said. “It’s a gift from God to this ministry that we have Canadians who are so passionate about helping children in need.”
For additional information on Operation Christmas Child, including how to pack a box, visit samaritanspurse.ca, or to pack a box online visit packabox.samaritanspurse.ca.
Additionally, Airdrie residents can drop off shoeboxes at the Operation Christmas Child warehouse at 20 Hopewell Way in northeast Calgary all year round.
