“These kids are so needy, some of them literally having nothing.”
It’s a message that Jeff Germo, lead pastor at the Campbell River Baptist Church, is trying to drive home as Operation Christmas Child begins for another season.
The Samaritan’s Purse humanitarian initiative, which helps deliver shoeboxes full of gifts to impoverished children, has launched around the world for another year.
Germo, who’s church has been participating locally in Operation Christmas Child for several years, knows first-hand what the shoeboxes mean to the children who receive them.
In September of last year, Germo travelled to the African country of Senegal to hand deliver shoeboxes donated by generous Canadians. Over the span of his 10-day trip, Germo and his group of volunteer pastors delivered shoeboxes at least seven different times to groups of 75 to 100 children.
“It was very emotional,” Germo says. “There’s joy in the moment for the child and the family and it does give them some hope that it’s not all bad out there. It can sort of be a dog-eat-dog world no matter what country you’re in. We typically look out for Number One and here’s someone they don’t even know who wants to love on them and change their perspective that ‘maybe I can do that’ and it’s sort of the paying it forward mentality.”
Germo says while in Senegal he saw children living in extreme poverty. In one tiny village, all of the homes were grass huts while in another, single women were raising multiple children in homes that had leaky roofs, no windows, no doors and dirt floors which turned to mud when the rain set in.
Delivering shoeboxes full of gifts – many of which the children had never seen before in their lives – brought a bright spot to their day.
“They’re sort of apprehensive at first, they’re not sure what’s going on. They aren’t really told we’re going to give them a gift, they’re just told there’s a surprise for them,” Germo says. “They’re apprehensive, they’re shy, we give them the shoebox and they don’t know what to do with it. We help them open the box and then play with the toys. They leave with their faces bright with joy.”
But there were also tears.
Germo recalls during one distribution how the children were gathered to receive their shoeboxes in a church with only four walls, no roof. A group of children climbed up on the roof of a nearby structure to watch what was unfolding in the church.
Germo says it broke his heart knowing there weren’t enough shoeboxes to go around to give one to every child in the village.
“There’s just a huge need for more,” Germo says.
Which is why he encourages anyone in the community who is able and willing to consider filling a shoebox this year for a child living in poverty.
“If they can fill a shoebox with the essentials – pencil crayons, crayons, colouring books, little toys – it means a huge amount to the kids there,” Germo says. “Even a pencil – it’s a big deal there.”
Campbell Riverites have been generous when it comes to Operation Christmas Child and last year filled 1,656 shoeboxes, which was a record for this city.
Anyone who would like to fill a shoebox first decides whether the shoebox will be for a boy or a girl either between 2-4-years-old, 5-9-years-old or 10-14-years-old. The shoebox can then be filled with small gifts such as school supplies, hygiene items, toys and a $10 donation to cover the cost of shipping the shoebox.
Shoeboxes filled by Canadians will this year be going to children living in either Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Sierra Leone or Ukraine.
Shoeboxes can be picked up at various local churches or through Discovery Community Church at 250-287-8786. Shoeboxes can also be filled online at, www.samaritanspurse.ca/OCC
Shoeboxes, once filled, must be dropped off at the Discovery Community Church (250 10th Ave., the former Galaxy Theatre) between Nov. 13 and 19.
Operation Christmas Child is an initiative of the charitable Christian organization Samaritan’s Purse, whose army of volunteers will hand-deliver the shoeboxes to children living in the midst of poverty, disease, war and natural disaster.
Since 1993, when Samaritan’s Purse adopted Operation Christmas Child, more than 135 million shoeboxes have been distributed to children worldwide.
Last year, Canadians packed more than 730,000 shoeboxes.
@CRMirror
kristend@campbellrivermirror.com
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