Since school opened in September, a group of 20 Grade 8 students at Meadowridge School have been collecting donations of school supplies, hygiene items, clothing and toys for Operation Christmas Child.
That program by Samaritan’s Purse will be sending gift-filled shoe boxes to children in desperate situations around the world.
Through selling Halloween candy grams and a week-long supply drive, the students filled more than 60 shoe boxes.
“We’ve been coming in at lunch time to pack and wrap the shoe boxes,” said Abigail Ogunremi, one of the Grade 8s involved in the project.
“It feels good to know that children who don’t have as much as we do will be getting a box full of useful supplies and fun toys,” added Carmen Nisipeanu.
READ ALSO: Once a child in a refugee camp, now a promoter of Operation Christmas Child
With no international trips happening this spring break, teacher Joyce Villadiego wanted to find a way to model global citizenship through outreach beyond the local community. She had the idea to get involved with Operation Christmas Child, and has been thrilled by the response from students and parents.
“We had over 900 items donated, it’s taken a lot of time to organize and write individual messages for each shoe box, but it is more than worth it,” she said.
The boxes were dropped off at Maple Ridge Baptist Church where they will be shipped along with hundreds of others to communities in Central America, South America and a couple of countries in Africa. Operation Christmas Child has been operating locally for many years and has delivered thousands of Christmas shoe boxes in that time.
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