EAR FALLS — A long-standing annual Christmas tradition in Ear Falls continues,.
On Saturday, a shoebox packing party for Operation Christmas Child was held at the Ear Falls Catholic Church.
This is a long-time annual event hosted by Ear Falls resident Karen Powell. Samaritans Purse started the Operation Christmas Child initiative in 1993 when Pastor Franklin Graham was asked if he would be willing to fill shoeboxes of gifts to send to the children of war-torn Bosnia. Together, with his friend Pastor Ross Rhoads’s Calvary Church of Charlotte, they were able to prepare and send 11,000 shoeboxes.
Every year since, Samaritans Purse has collected and sent shoeboxes filled with gifts to more than 198 million children in over 170 countries.
Twelve people attended this year's packing party in Ear Falls, and together packed 131 shoeboxes with 16 more shoeboxes collected from around town for a total of 147.
“For a little town, that is almost one box for every 10 people in Ear Falls,” Powell said.
Powell took over the running of the packing parties from Dixie Watson in 2016. She watches for sales and collects donations for the shoeboxes throughout the year.
Donations of toothbrushes were given by local dentists, soap from local hotels, along with other donations from local businesses. KD’s Fine Foods and the Ear Falls Chapel were designated drop-off locations for donations and shoeboxes.
This year’s boxes will be sent to Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Nicaragua, the Philippines, The Gambia, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Ukraine.
Ear Falls Home Hardware provided free shipping of the boxes to the Samaritans Purse sorting centre in Calgary.
“If it wasn’t for the free shipping, all of this labour of love would have to stop right there,” Powell said “Shipping commercially would have cost a fortune.”
This year, so many donations were given that Karen had run out of boxes to pack. The remaining donations were sent to Calgary along with the boxes to be added to the shipments.
“The more people that know about the shoeboxes, the more people can participate,” Powell said.
