Nearly twice as many.
That's how many Operation Christmas Child boxes were collected in the Humboldt region in 2011, when compared to 2010 numbers.
A total of 719 Christmas boxes were filled by people in the Humboldt area in 2011 - 486 were filled last year. The boxes, which contain everything from school supplies and toys to hygiene products and personal notes from the givers, will eventually end up in the hands of children in desperate situations around the world.
Those 719 Christmas shoe boxes from the Humboldt region all ended up at the Alliance Church in Humboldt and were packed up into larger boxes and sent to Calgary on the bus on November 27.
Bus companies across Canada donate the shipping of the packages free of charge, noted Reg Batza of Bruno. Reg and his wife, Linda, are volunteer staff members with OCC, and look after promoting the program in this region.
Carla Flasko has been working at the collection point for OCC for the past 13 years.
"It seems every year, it's more than the year before. I remember the first year, there were just 20 boxes. It's really gone big," Flasko said.
Flasko, the Batzas and other helping hands, some of them belonging to some very young children, spent an hour on Sunday getting the Christmas boxes ready for shipping.
OCC shoe boxes are collected in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Spain, the United Kingdom, Ireland and the United States, and distributed in more than 100 countries on six continents.
Many of the children who receive a shoe box are being given the first gift they have ever received.
When culturally appropriate, along with their shoe boxes, children are offered a cultural booklet called "The Greatest Gift of All," which explains the message of salvation through Jesus Christ in the child's own language.
And when possible, children who receive the shoe boxes are offered the opportunity to take part in a 12-lesson discipleship training program called "The Greatest Journey," through a local church.
OCC is a project of Samaritan's Purse.
