Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan's Purse an international Christian charity, dedicated to the relief of suffering people in almost 100 countries worldwide. People who live with poverty, HIV/AIDS or other illnesses, or victims of the effects of natural disaster or conflict
Last Christmas over 300,000 excited and happy children in Belarus, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Ukraine, Armenia, Swaziland and Mozambique received a shoe box from Ireland. Children in hospitals or orphanages. Children who live on the streets or in desperately needy neighbourhoods. Many of them have nothing, and it's their only Christmas present.
The boxes are given to children in need, regardless of their nationality, political background or religious beliefs.
Leaflets are posted out to schools, groups, workplaces etc. mid September with a closing date for the return of shoeboxes mid November.
There are a number of drop off points for shoeboxes in Kilkenny:
Castlecomer, John's Quay and Loughboy libraries
AXA Insurance, Dublin Road
Warehouse – Nurtricare, Hebron Industrial Estate (1st turn opposite old Radio Kilkenny Premises). This is where all the boxes are sorted and packed into the international relief cartons.
€3.00 with each shoebox - which goes towards the promotion, transport, processing and distribution of your box.
Individuals, schools, workplaces etc. Christmas wrap shoeboxes and fill with gifts for children aged between 2 years and 14 years.
The completed shoeboxes are brought from the drop off points to the warehouse. Here each box is checked, taped and sorted into gender and age category. The sorted boxes are then packed in international relief cartons. The boxes are then collected and shipped to various destinations in Eastern Europe or Southern Africa.
Volunteers are always needed to help with publicising Operation Christmas Child or with collecting, sorting and packing shoeboxes.
Operation Christmas Child is more than a shoebox, it means so much to the boy or girl to know that someone, far away, whom they will never meet, is thinking of them. It brings joy, hope and a little of God’s love into desperate situations, focusing on the true meaning of Christmas – Jesus Christ, God’s greatest gift.
Contact details:
email: abyrne@carlowcoco.ie
mobile: 087 2944251
Samaritan's Purse website: www.samaritanspurse.ie