Susie Corbin’s eyes fill with unshed tears when she talks about Operation Christmas Child. How that trip to the local dollar store with her children, to buy gifts for a hurting child half a world away, touches her beyond words. How every year, her family fills shoe boxes for both a boy and girl, children living in crisis situations, whether it’s war, natural disaster or poverty.
“What these children are dealing with ...what they are suffering from, we can’t begin to compare. When I hear of a catastrophe earthquake that destroyed hundreds of buildings and a hometown, and the only thing that was spared was her family. And they lost everything. And to think that a simple shoe box arriving could change this little girl’s world is just huge,” Corbin says.
“Each year, my children are humbled at the experience as they select items to only fit in a shoe box, when they are so blessed with what they receive,” she says, her voice catching on the words.
There are over 60 million reasons to get involved in Operation Christmas Child. That’s the number of hurting children who’ve received a gift filled shoebox and the “Good News of Jesus Christ” through the Samaritan’s Purse Project since 1993, the organization’s brochure explains. Franklin Graham, Evangelist Billy Graham’s son, is President of Samaritan’s Purse.
Several area churches are holding public packing parties on Wednesday evening, November 11. All are invited to participate. (All locations are supplying wrapping paper and tape).
• Honesdale Free Methodist Church is holding their packing party at the Wayne County Visitor’s Center on Commercial Street in Honesdale from 6 to 9 p.m., complete with refreshments. Susie Corbin and Susan Kinzinger are co-coordinators. For more information, call the church at 729-7544.
• Their sister church, Beach Lake fm Church, on Milanville Road, is holding their packing party at 6:30 p.m.
• The First Presbyterian Church of Honesdale is holding theirs at their chapel on 10th Street in Honesdale, starting at 7 p.m. The packing party is the senior project of Honesdale High School student Brittany Cardona.
How to pack a shoebox
To pack a shoebox, you’ll need a standard size shoe box or shoebox size plastic container. “They select whether they want to pack a box for a boy or a girl, and in that they choose an age category, and they are: 2 to 4, 5 to 9, or 10 to 14,” Corbin said.
