NEWS RELEASE
OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD
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Help us reach 3,022 Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes from Orillia in 2022.
Red and green Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes are here in Orillia, and everyone from tiny tots to seniors is packing them to send around the world. Friends at Champlain Manor, Leacock and Trillium Manor have packed nearly 150, and the joy on their elderly faces is beautiful, as they picture children in the Ukraine, Philippines, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Western African countries receiving them in this upcoming Christmas season.
Operation Christmas Child annually collects and hand delivers gift-filled shoeboxes to children in over 170 countries hurt by war, poverty, natural disasters, disease and famine. You can make a difference. You can share hope through a simple gift this year.
Pick up yours this week at local outlets: Zehrs, Home Hardware, Dollar Tree stores, Barnfield Point Recreation Centre, Housser’s Paint and Wallpaper, the Water Market, Tiffin’s, Calvary Pentecostal, Mariposa Market, and Foodland in Brechin. I invite you to make a family tradition of packing a shoebox, reaching out to a hurting world and sharing hope. We hope you will help us reach our goal of 3,022 this year in 2022.
Last year, despite COVID, Canadians lovingly packed 413,875 shoeboxes with school supplies, hygiene items, skipping ropes, ball caps and many other useful items and small toys to let children know they are loved and not forgotten. Our 2,867 Orillia shoeboxes were part of a worldwide total of 10.5 million collected in Canada, U.S.A., U.K., Spain, Finland, South Korea, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and New Zealand.
Filled shoeboxes will be received back during national collection week, Nov 14 to 20, at Calvary Pentecostal Church (375 Westmount Dr. N., Orillia), Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 to 6 p.m., and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
For more info about shoeboxes or volunteering, please call C. Jones at 705-345-6677.
“In years filled with uncertainty, we praise God for the opportunity to continue reaching children around the world with gift-filled shoeboxes that bring … joy,” said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse. “These gifts provide a tangible expression of love and open the doors for sharing the life-changing hope of Jesus Christ.”
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