The Weyburn Free Methodist Church will be hosting a kick-off for this season's Operation Christmas Child on October 11 at 7:00 p.m. Representatives from schools, churches, organizations, businesses as well as individuals can pick up shoe boxes and hear first-hand stories from two local young ladies who travelled to Uruguay earlier this year.
Every fall in Canada and other developed countries, shoe boxes filled of simple gifts are collected and distributed to third world countries and to areas of the world that have been devastated by famine, war and natural disasters. Uruguay has a population of approximately 3.3 million people and has main exports of beef, soy, rice, wood, dairy products and malt.
The statistics of Weyburn and area contributing in 2010 was the total of 1290 boxes and last year in 2011 increased 25 % in boxes. Shoe Boxes for this area are sent to the Processing Centre in Calgary after collection week and then are ready for customs for countries such as: Argentina, Guatemala, Sierra Leone, and Ivory Coast to name a few.
Anyone can take part in Operation Christmas Child. Simply decide if you want to do a box for a boy or girl and which age (choices are 2 to 4, 5 to 9, or 10 to14), take an Operation Christmas Child standard box (green and red colored) and begin filling it with treasures that would make a child smile.
