Last year Operation Christmas Child filled and shipped 918 shoeboxes from the Sunshine Coast, and this year organizers would like to pass the 1,000 mark.
Each shoebox is filled with hygiene items, school supplies and toys, and is given to children regardless of gender, race or religion.
To participate, you can use a regular shoebox, photo storage box, Rubbermaid shoebox or a red and green box that you can pick up at Calvary Baptist Church and other area churches, IGA in Gibsons and Wilson Creek, GBS Gibsons and Sechelt, dollar stores, or at 1073 Grandview Road (Pratt and Grandview).
Decide the age of the child you want to fill a box for and if it will be a girl or boy.
Recommended toys and other gifts include dolls, soccer balls (with needle and pump), stuffed animals, socks, hair clips, cars, musical instruments, puzzles and jump ropes.
School supplies include pencils, pens, crayons, pencil crayons, notebooks and colouring books.
Hygiene items include toothbrushes, bar soap, washcloths, combs and nail clippers.
Do not include food or candy, toothpaste, used items, decks of standard playing cards, items that could leak, melt or freeze (shampoo, creams, lip balm, etc.), items that can scare or harm a child (war-related toys, knives, toy guns, etc.), breakable Items (glass, mirrors, etc.).
A donation of $7 per shoebox is required to help with shipping.
National Collection Week is the third week in November; however, to help with packaging of boxes into cartons, please drop them off as soon as possible at the location you picked up an empty box or Calvary Baptist Church, 711 Park Road in Gibsons, or 1073 Grandview Road where they are being packed and shipped from. Call Martha at 604-886-8545 with any questions. Return them as soon as possible but no later than Nov. 16. You can also go to samaritanspurse.ca for more details.
Last year, Canadians collected 730,577 gift-filled shoeboxes. Every item lovingly added to an Operation Christmas Child shoebox gift has the potential to impact a child.
