OrilliaMattters welcomes letters to the editor ([email protected]). This letter is in reference to shoe box donations for Operation Christmas Child.
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Have you seen the colourful empty shoe boxes ready to be picked up at Zehrs, Home Hardware Orillia, Housser's Paint & Wallpaper, Mariposa Market, Tiffin’s Creative Centre, Bayside Restaurant (at Barnfield Point Recreation Centre) or the Dollar Tree stores?
If it is your first year or your 20th year, you will want to share the joy of packing an Operation Christmas Child (OCC) shoe box again, and we are cheering you on!
Last year, Orillia residents really stepped up and we sent 2,637 boxes full of school supplies, hygiene items, skipping ropes, tee shirts, balls, ball caps and joy.
This year, we plan to break the 3,000 goal with your help. Our Orillia shoeboxes were part of the 9.1 million shoeboxes sent globally to children living in fear, despair, poverty and natural disasters. Even through COVID, international partners are still finding safe ways to distribute the precious shoe boxes, teach the Greatest Journey classes and spread hope in a hurting world.
Your generosity makes this happen!
My husband and I were part of an OCC distribution team that went to El Salvador a few years ago, built water filtration units and placed your shoeboxes into the hands of children.
We watched their smiles and their hearts grow as they realized someone in Canada had packed a shoebox full of treasure just for them. One little boy held all his new pencils tightly in his hand and shouted, “Yes, yes, yes... now I can finally go to school!” It was his dream come true, and now that he had some supplies, he could finally attend.
Worldwide, there are incredible stories of lives impacted; check out the website www.samaritanspurse.ca/OCC for short videos and testimonies.
We hope you will pick up a few shoeboxes, plan a packing party, keep thankful and encourage your kids and grandkids to share! It truly is a gift that keeps on giving.
Filled shoeboxes are to be dropped off to Calvary Pentecostal at 375 Westmount Dr. N. during the third week of November. For more information or questions please call 705-345-6677.
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