Many of our churches participate in the growing Operation Christmas Child, an outreach of Samaritan’s Purse that provides an opportunity for people to give shoeboxes filled with gifts, everything from hygiene items, school supplies and toys. At Christmas, these shoeboxes are distributed worldwide to children regardless of gender, race, religion or age.
Gail Shillington, President of Women’s Ministries International, in affiliation with The Free Methodist Church in Canada, was featured in a kingstonthisweek.com article having recently met with a young woman from Bolivia, Paola Justiniano, who had been a regular recipient of a shoebox as a child. Gail has a long history of volunteering with Operation Christmas Child, so to meet a child who had benefited from this outreach years later was a highilight to her career. It was a highlight for Paola as well, in Canada on an exchange, who was thrilled each year to receive it.
Photo of Gail Shillington & Paola Justniano courtesy of Rob Mooy, kingstonthisweek.com.
“I thought of God, and that God had done something for me,” said Paola… “I never dreamed that when I received those boxes that one day, I would be in Canada and I would find them here.”
Read more about their meeting and the impact of the Samaritan’s Purse “boxes of love.”
