The numbers are in for Samaritans Purse's Operation Christmas Child Campaign that takes place every November.
Globally, last year a total of 11,927,439 shoe boxes were collected and distributed to war-torn and poverty-stricken countries around the world. That means close to 12 million children and youth received a shoe box filled with school supplies, hygiene supplies, clothing and simple footwear, toys and special additions that make each box truly unique.
Manitobans did their part by filling 31,235 shoe boxes that made their way to the Calgary distribution centre to be shipped to designated countries.
Killarney area Collection Lead for Samaritan Purse, Jacki Ens, says their Killarney 2024 numbers dipped a bit from the year before, with area residents filling 290 physical boxes and completing 30 boxes online, for a total of 320 shoe boxes in all from her area.
Ens says they're hoping to get back up to 400 for 2025, and so now is a great time to start filling those shoe boxes as the new season of summer starts. Two years ago, just over 400 boxes were filled in the Killarney area.
"The easiest thing to do is to start watching for things that are on sale that you would like to put in the box and start gathering them now, especially when school supplies go on sale," explains Ens. "Those are great things to grab to put into shoe boxes. We do a lot of our shopping at Dollarama which is great with stocking their shelves with things that are readily available to us."
School supplies are always appreciated for children and youth around the world. Ens says for middle-years kids pencil crayons with a sharpener is great. For younger kids crayons are always welcome. Pencils for any age child, boy or girl along with a pencil sharpener is always great as well.
"The important thing to remember is there can't be any liquids in the boxes, no candies and anything related to a war item," she explains. "The types of things we like to put in, include one Wow! item, like a stuffie, a soccer ball, something that when the kids see it their eyes open!"
Clothing, socks, hats, caps, hair bands for girls, Ens says one can be quite creative when looking at filling a shoe box with essential and fun items. "And take your children with you and ask them what they would like in a shoe box. They can help purchase items and pack a shoebox for a child their age!"
"We send scissors for the older girls so that they can do some sewing, and Dollarama has some great sewing kits just over $3.00, and they come with needles and thread, scissors and everything that these girls would need to be able to fix clothing with sewing," she shares. "For the older boys, we really like to send a tool of some sort, like a small screwdriver set."
Parachute chord, rope or twine and fishing line are all great ideas.
"Another great thing we like to tell people is that Ivory soap is the only bar of soap that floats," notes Ens. "We have a lady in our church who sews little drawstring bags to put into the shoe boxes which is great for them to take down to the creeks and rivers to do their washing, and we always put in a bar of Ivory soap because it floats and doesn't get lost on the river bottom."
"So, it's nice to be able to look at a broad aspect of things for each of the age categories," adds Ens.
And if you find it difficult to purchase items and pack a shoe box, Jackie Ens at the Bayside Mennonite Church in Killarney, and the MaryAnn Gillis at the Calvary Baptist Church in Killarney collect monetary donations to purchase items in bulk and spend a day filling boxes with their local volunteers. Boxes can also be filled online at Samaritan Purse Ministries HERE!