Operation Christmas Child was started in 1990. In 1993, Operation Christmas Child grew and was adopted by Samaritan's Purse, a Christian organization run by Franklin Graham. To date, Operation Christmas Child has collected and distributed over 100 million shoebox gifts worldwide. In 2013, Canadians donated more than 664,000 Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes for hurting children around the world.
In 2014, shoeboxes will be distributed in Uruguay, El Salvador, Guatemala, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Venezuela, Equatorial Guinea, Costa Rica, Guinea, Haiti, Nicaragua, Chile (including Easter Island), and Senegal (listed destination countries are subject to change). To date there have been more than 550,000 shoeboxes processed in the three distribution centres across Canada with 290,000 being done right in Calgary.
On Wednesday December 10th our Calgary Warehouse Manager recruited 10 people to Samaritan's Purse's warehouse (and another 6 on Friday, Dec 12) to help sort through shoeboxes and ready their contents for the long trip across the world. In the words of our Calgary Warehouse manager "Although we will not feel the impact that this has on our own turf, here at home, it has a large impact globally."
Here are some video samples of children receiving the Christmas boxes: http://samaritanspurse.ca/rss/operation-christmas-child/resources/operation-christmas-child-videos.aspx
For more information about Samaritan's Purse Canada visit: www.samaritanspurse.ca
