The beginning of winter and the Christmas season would not feel the same without red and green shoeboxes filling up offices, churches, and local businesses.
This year the Morden and Winkler area packed nearly 5,500 shoeboxes, which is slightly down from last year's count at approximately 5,800.
The record remains nearly 7,000 shoeboxes collected in 2016.
Gerry Unger, Operation Christmas Child Regional Coordinator, has been working locally with the project for nearly twenty years and has probably seen more of these boxes than anyone else in the area.
He encourages people to pack more than one shoebox if they can, as the demand for them is constantly snowballing. "When I first started we did maybe 4,000, so we're up to 6,500. I mean, we can still do a lot more. That doesn't even cover one city like Morden or Winkler at all, so we can do a lot."
The boxes may feel specific to the season, but Unger says the time it takes to process and ship them means kids are receiving them year-round. "They [Samaritan's Purse] do quite a few distributions throughout the year, but the kids that get these boxes, it's just incredible the excitement that they have when receiving them."
Unger has seen this first hand on a trip to Uraguay, South America in 2008, and Senegal, West Africa in July of 2017.
Between those trips and his many years of service, Unger says it is nearing time for him to retire. "It's been a great opportunity to see things grow. Things have changed quite a bit since twenty years ago, just like everything else has changed since twenty years ago."
"It's a really good service to get into, and it's like God says, we're supposed to be an example of Him. This is part of it, by helping other people," says Unger.
He adds, the shoebox ministry is very important, and encourages anyone interested to pick up the torch and get involved.
Sat, Apr 20, 8:24 AM
Labour, Seasonal
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