Samaritan's Purse, through Operation Christmas Child, is sharing hope and changing lives throughout the year, not just at Christmas.
"In November, of course, is when we collect the shoeboxes," says Lynette Loewen, the Regional Manager at Operation Christmas Child for Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Northwest Ontario. "It takes us some time to process them all. Then we have to ship them to all of our countries. Sometimes we're dealing with 10 or more countries."
The OCC shoeboxes are distributed throughout the year, with Canadian shoeboxes going to Central America and West Africa.
"The evangelism and discipleship program, and all the distributions, happen throughout the year. Right now, this week, shoeboxes are getting into the hands of children. It's really exciting to see their faces, kids are coming to Christ, and of course, they're being discipled."
Many of the shoeboxes travel far distances before making it to their destination. Loewen explains that they often start in a shipping container on a boat. Then they may be carried by canoe, donkey, camel, and even elephants.
"We're training the partners there, how to evangelize and how to disciple. Once the kids are invited to an event, that's when they hear the gospel for the first time. They don't even know they're going to get a gift. They're there willing because we've said we would love to tell you about a man named Jesus."
The kids receive a booklet with more details about the gospel and then are invited to participate in a 12-week program called The Greatest Journey, similar to Sunday school or a Vacation Bible School (VBS).
"In 2024, 5.5 million children went through our 12-lesson discipleship program. We take stats on lesson six, which is the first time we ask them if they want to make Jesus their special friend. On that night, 3.2 million children made first-time decisions. Does that not give you goosebumps? We get to be a part of that. What a privilege it is."
Currently, Samaritan's Purse offers the program to children in 107 different languages, including Braille.
Churches that want to get involved in packing shoeboxes, whether it's within the congregation or expanding further to the community, can order their boxes now through OCC.