A group from the Battlefords just came back from Calgary where they helped inspect boxes for Operation Christmas Child's next shipment to needy kids around the world. (submitted photo/Frank King)

By Angela Brown

Heart to heart

Battlefords area group in Calgary to help with Operation Christmas Child

Dec 9, 2019 | 1:02 PM

A toy or two, a toothbrush, a T-shirt.

The shoeboxes may contain small gifts many Canadian kids would consider basics, but for children in underdeveloped and war-ravaged countries receiving them could mean a world of difference.

That’s why North Battleford resident Mona Bruynooghe supports the Operation Christmas Child Project.

She joined a group of Battlefords area residents who traveled to Calgary this past week where they spent four days checking gift-filled shoeboxes that will be sent to needy kids in Central America and West Africa for Operation Christmas Child’s next delivery.

“I love to do it because of the hope it brings kids,” Bruynooghe said. “I love being involved in a project that is way bigger than me or my community; it’s global. I love what it does for the kids just to give them that sense of hope again.”

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Bruynooghe led the group of 11 people from the region – 10 from the Battlefords and one from Gronlid, who came from various area churches and the community to the Operation Christmas Child warehouse where the boxes were being prepared for shipment.

The local area coordinator who attends Territorial Drive Alliance Church said the group transported 1,486 shoeboxes contributed by area residents, filled with gifts such as school supplies, hygiene items like Band-Aids as well as clothing and fun items such as balls and skipping rope.

“We’ve been doing it for probably 15 years,” Bruynooghe said. “It’s such a rewarding experience. It’s amazing as we travel together, going to work together for a common cause we all believe in as we reach out to kids around the world that are in war-torn countries and in extreme poverty.”

She has participated in three previous trips to countries around the world for Operation Christmas Child, handing out the filled shoeboxes to children.

Bruynooghe visited Senegal in West Africa as a volunteer in 2017 to help the local people distribute boxes.

“It just brings back a smile to these kids’ faces,” Bruynooghe said. “Some kids they don’t even smile when you drive up; there are just blank looks. But it’s different by the time we are done there.”

The advocate said some children can’t go to school simply because they don’t have a pencil. So a few school supplies can be their link to education and a better future.

Moreover, she said the gift-filled shoeboxes brings them hope.

People from the Battlefords community as well as area schools, churches, community groups and businesses contributed many of the shoeboxes stuffed with gifts for the project.

The shipment of shoeboxes will be sent to the designated countries where the local people there will distribute them to kids in the schools and community.

While it is too late to donate more boxes for the current Operation Christmas Child shipment, people can always contribute a shoebox filled with gifts online through Samaritan’s Purse Canada’s website. Then, in March or April those boxes will be packed in Calgary and shipped around the world for the next project.

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow