Font Resize
It's a worldwide project, hoping to bring joy to thousands of children around the world.
Operation Christmas Child is put on by the national relief organization, Samaritan's Purse, and thousands of Alaskans are taking part in this special holiday drive.
Shoeboxes get filled with simple gifts, like toys, school supplies, and candy.
Even though local organizations here in Anchorage say it has been a slow year for donations, participants in this particular holiday drive hope
It's been a day dedicated to sorting, packing, and taping up boxes. Volunteer Katie Bronson said it's all worth it, “Packing up shoe boxes, making sure they're not too light, and that there's a boy-girl paper on it and what age.”
The boxes might be filled with the simplest of things, but the impact is much bigger. “It's a lot of fun and it changes peoples lives,” added Katie Bronson.
Katie's mother Deb Bronson is Anchorage's Collection Center Coordinator for the drive. Deb Bronson said it doesn't take much to fill up a shoebox, “There are people who have so much less than us. These children are actually shocked that an
The special boxes will travel overseas and be hand delivered to needy children in over 130 countries, and those small gifts, are big treasures.
One teenager remembers receiving one of these shoebox gifts as a child growing up in the country of Moldova, and now she's giving back to the project that once gave her hope. Luba Travis, a former shoebox recipient said, “I think I was 5 or 6 when I first got my box and it was the first present I ever got in my life.”
That simple Christmas present meant the world to Luba Travis, “Most of us felt like we were loved and somebody cared for us, even though they weren't in an orphanage and most kids including my sister and I. We cried when we got these boxes because we were so happy.”
Ten years later, Luba remembers exactly what was in her box, “A plastic slinky, it was really small, a stuffed bear, candy, hard candy, like a whole bunch of it, a toothbrush, a tooth paste, and a chap stick.”
Stories like Luba Travis are exactly why volunteers keep piling up the boxes.
Volunteer Katie Bronson said, “They go through so many hard times. They don't get any Christmas presents. They don't really get anything.”
So maybe this “something” will be the little bit that helps make a child's Christmas a little brighter.
If you would like to donate a gift-filled shoebox, just drop it off this week at the Anchorage Baptist Temple Collect Site 11am to 8pm Tuesday through Friday, 10am to 8pm on Saturday, and 11am to 7pm on Sunday.
For more information call Operation Christmas Child at 1-800-596-2458.
To contact the Newsroom, call 907-274-1111.
