INNISFAIL – For the past 11 years Betty Gibbs has answered the call of God to embark on a sacred mission.
This year, the 72-year-old Spruce View-area resident went to Calgary with her husband Dave and a group of Innisfail and area residents.
Their mission took them to the huge warehouses of Samaritan’s Purse to join the service of Operation Christmas Child; a program that has been supporting struggling children in West Africa and Central America since 1993.
The annual initiative from the international Christian relief organization has collected and distributed more than 187 million shoebox gifts in more than 100 countries.
And Operation Christmas Child has become hugely successful this time of year in Alberta and Innisfail as well. Alberta residents packed 80,121 shoeboxes in 2021.
Betty and her friends, most of them from the Innisfail Alliance Church, were determined to add their hearts to Operation Christmas Child on Nov. 24 and 25 at the Calgary warehouses of Samaritan’s Purse.
“It's something that just penetrated my heart years ago to see what people put in, and secondly is the love that is shown to these children who probably don't have any love in their lives,” said Betty. “It brings tears to your eyes to hear what those boxes have done.
“It changed their lives; made them feel like there was somebody out there who loved them.”
Betty and her friends, who paid for their own accommodations at a hotel near the warehouse’s sorting centre, were assigned to a station where there was a table.
Boxes that had been shipped from all corners of the country were brought to them.
“There's two sides of the warehouse where you get to see what people put in and honestly it is just amazing,” said Betty. “Some people pack small backpacks for the 10 to 14-year-old boys, like little hammers, packages and plastic packages of nails and measuring tapes.
“For girls they will have little packages of needles and sewing kits,” she said. “We were just astounded at what the imagination of people is when they pack these boxes.
“I think this one lady from Manitoba who must have been in her 80s did 24 boxes and had her little picture in each one,” added Betty. “She crocheted little animals for each of them, and I imagine grandkids would have helped her. The boxes were so stuffed full you could hardly tape them up. It was amazing.”
Betty’s group began their work by opening shoeboxes and looking for cash or cheques to pass on. Each box was then forwarded to another volunteer.
Everything was taken out to ensure there are no “inappropriate” items, like liquids, glass, used items or any with a war-theme.
When everything was deemed safe, boxes were passed on to the next volunteer and taped up. They were then sent to a conveyor belt, and placed in an area to be separately sorted for boys and girls from the ages of two to 14.
Once that was completed, the boxes were taped up and placed on pallets. They were taken to the second warehouse where they were then sent to their destinations; a country in Central America, West Africa, or the Philippines and to the Ukraine.
Finally, the shoeboxes were given to children who, in many cases, have never received a gift in their lives.
For Betty and her friends their two days of work in Calgary is the highlight of Christmas.
“I would say it would be, yes. We're sharing God's love because we know that God loves us and that He cares for us. We're just giving back a little bit of the love that He has shown to us as human beings,” said Betty. “Our hearts hurt to see some of these children, like even in the Ukraine from pictures and what not, of what they're going through.
“I'm thrilled to share that love God has shown it to me,” she added. “There's several others here in our church where it has really struck a chord in their hearts of how good it is.”
For more information on Operation Christmas Child visit www.samaritanspurse.ca
