Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Richard Jenkins/Daily Globe THE RANGE Community Bible Church collects donations to fill shoe boxes that will be sent to children in need throughout the world for Christmas. Among those helping fill shoe boxes are, first row from left: Delores Bjork, Suzie Lammer, McKenzie Agee and Jessa Wiesen. Second row: Griffin Brown, Oliver Brown, Faith Grewe, and Haley Agee. Third row: Aiden Agee, Wesley Schilling, Marisol Brown and Logan Schilling. Fourth row: Leland Hollenbeck, Isaac Niemi and Malaya Crabtree.
By RICHARD JENKINS
Hurley - The Range Community Bible Church is seeking donations of shoe boxes filled with goods as it takes part in "Operation Christmas Child."
The effort, billed by Samaritan's Purse International Relief as "the world's largest Christmas outreach of its kind," involves filling shoe boxes with everything from toys to school supplies and then sending the shoe boxes to children in need around the world.
"A lot of these are going to kids who are in refugees camps, orphanages, war zones, disaster zones, kids who are really without anything right now," said Julia Bortz, who is helping with the Range Community Bible Church's effort.
Shoe boxes can be filled with a range of items, including everything from clothing and hygiene items to toys, school supplies and candy. Organizers also encourage centering the shoe box's content around a "wow item," such as a soccer ball or bigger toy.
Shoe boxes are labeled by gender and broken down into three age categories - two to four years old, five to nine years old and 10-14 years old.
Helping the local effort is Dolores Bjork, who despite not being a member of the church is contributing 30 dolls and stuffed animals that she made.
"(Bjork) is a real giver," said Bortz, "She restores things and we have boxes filled with these dolls and teddy bears, cute things little boys could have as well as girls."
Since 1993, the project has collected 124 million shoe boxes - going to over 150 countries - with the goal of reaching another 11 million children this year, according to information on the project's website.
The church is also accepting donations to cover the $7 shipping fee for the boxes.
The church is accepted filled shoe boxes from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. from Nov. 16 through Nov. 22, after which the boxes will travel to a sorting facility in Minneapolis, Bortz said. From Minneapolis, the boxes will be distributed throughout the world.
