Three decades of giving: Hutchinson area aims to collect 35,000 shoeboxes for children worldwide
Story & photos by Dawnita Miller, Samaritan’s Purse/Operation Christmas Child
HUTCHINSON, Kan.— Something wonderful has been happening quietly in the Hutchinson area for more than three decades. Individuals, families, schools, scout groups, churches and businesses have been packing shoebox gifts for Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan's Purse. The process is simple: Fill a medium-size shoebox with school supplies, hygiene items and small toys and bring it to multiple drop-off locations in the Hutchinson area during National Collection Week, Nov. 17-24. Operation Christmas Child takes it from there and distributes the gift-filled shoeboxes, each as individual and unique as the person who packed it, to children in need in more than 100 countries around the world. Last year they distributed more than 11 million shoebox gifts and hope to give more than 12 million gifts this year. More than 31,000 of those came from the Hutchinson-Wichita area. They hope to collect more than 35,000 this year.
Individuals and groups are packing shoeboxes now in preparation for National Collection Week, Nov. 17-24. Semitrailers will be loaded to transport the boxes to the Denver processing center, where they are sorted before being sent to their final destinations around the world, where they are delivered in dugout canoes, by dog sled, even on the backs of camels and elephants.
"One of the things I love about Operation Christmas Child is that every age can participate, from families with young children to our seniors — everyone can fill a box and bring joy to a child across the world," said local volunteer Vicki Beck. Participants can donate $10 online through "follow your box" and receive a tracking label to discover its destination.
Many times the shoebox is the only gift a child receives for Christmas. Often it is the very first gift they have ever received. "Samaritan's Purse works around the world to help people in need, but it's not about good works — it's about the Gospel," said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan's Purse. "Please prayerfully consider packing a shoebox this year with Operation Christmas Child. These simple gifts open the door for us to share the true meaning of Christmas."
To learn more about how to pack a shoebox and find the drop-off location nearest you, visit www.samaritanspurse.org/occ.