There's no snow on the ground just yet, but soon the seasons will turn, and for Samaritan’s Purse, Christmas is already here. The annual Operation Christmas Child shoebox campaign has begun. "Operation Christmas Child is a ministry sharing the love of Jesus with children in need all around the world," explained Canadian Director Kenda Shields. "We want every child to know the God who made them sees them, knows them, and loves them. We are sending that message out to generous Canadians interested in packing shoebox gifts to let children around the world know God loves them." A simple act of love Operation Christmas Child began before it was a Samaritan's Purse project, with a couple in Wales starting the effort more than three decades ago. "(They) saw war and the impact war was having on the lives of children in Eastern Europe, and they decided they wanted to do something," explained Shields. "That's where the idea began, and they started collecting shoebox gifts in Wales and sending them into Eastern Europe." From there, an invitation was given to Franklin Graham, the International President of Samaritan's Purse, asking whether the organization would be interested in participating. "So, in 1993, it became a project of Samaritan's Purse, and in that first season, we are very proud to share Canada packed the most boxes," she noted. "The 26,000 shoeboxes that were sent, Canada packed the majority of those boxes. We're just so grateful that ever since then, over 16 million gifts historically have been sent from Canada to children in need around the world." During the 2024 campaign, globally, Operation Christmas Child sent 11.9 million shoeboxes into over 120 countries around the world, and Canadians sent 436,290. "Everyone loves to give a gift, everyone loves to get a gift," said Shields. "It's hard to even imagine there are children around the world that have never received a gift in their lives. We're grateful for the opportunity to send simple gifts. It's just a shoebox, school supplies, hygiene items, toys. but a personalized gift that lets that child know the God who made them loves them." Now's the time to shop With National Collection Week less than a month away, November 17th through 23rd, according to Shields, "Mow is the time to be shopping and praying for what you want to pack in your shoebox gift. We want something in that box to resonate with the heart of a child, to know they are seen and known." Learn what you can, and can not, pack in your shoebox, here. There will be over 300 drop-off locations across the country. "Local drop off locations in Southern Manitoba take their shoeboxes to a central drop off location in Winnipeg," she explained. "Those are collected and are trucked to our processing center in the office in Calgary, Alberta, where we have volunteer teams that come and serve over the course of three weeks. Every day we have volunteer shifts, Wednesday to Saturday, and volunteers are inspecting every single shoebox for customs clearance, because it's a very tight process for us to send these shoeboxes in." That process runs from the last week of November through December 16th. "As soon as we have enough boxes ready to go, we start loading sea containers right away," she noted. "We have sail dates for shipping containers out of the Port of Vancouver or the Port of Montreal, headed to our receiving countries before Christmas. They start to arrive in our receiving countries in the first week of February." Canadian shoeboxes will go to Costa Rica, El Salvador, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, the Philippines or Ukraine. Also, due to customs regulations in Nicaragua, shoeboxes packed online at PackABox.ca will be packed in country there. "We secure the items to pack the shoeboxes from suppliers in Nicaragua, and we have a volunteer team there that will assemble the boxes and then they're given to the children there," she said. "The Gospel still goes out, and we get to share the love of Jesus with those children even though we can't send traditionally packed shoeboxes from Canada into Nicaragua." The Greatest Journey Alongside the shoebox success last year, was an amazing response to The Greatest Journey a 12-lesson discipleship course designed for Operation Christmas Child shoebox recipients. "Over four million children went through the 12-lesson Greatest Journey discipleship follow-up program, and amazingly, 3.2 million children reported that they made a decision to follow Jesus," said Shields. "Lives are being changed. Hearts are being transformed, and there's nothing more exciting than being a part of that."