Colorado high country’s Operation Christmas Child effort sets gift record; you can pack a box online

EDWARDS — If your gift box was not among the record 2,787 collected throughout the high country for Operation Christmas Child, then you still have a chance to do a great thing.

Collections of actual gift boxes have finished for this Christmas season, but you can still pack a gift shoebox online, and follow it to its destination, said Claire Huerta with Samaritan’s Purse, the organization that runs Operation Christmas Child.

“The Rocky Mountain Colorado Area Team thanks the Eagle County community for their generous contributions already on their way to children in need worldwide. For many of these children, the shoebox gift will be the first gift they ever receive,” Huerta said.

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To participate online, go to samaritanspurse.org to select gifts matched to a child’s specific age and gender and add a photo and a personal note. For an extra $9, you can follow your gift box to its destination.

“It’s a good way to pack all year round. It’s simple and not too late for this Christmas season,” said Rosalind Fowler, area coordinator for Rocky Mountain region.

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Kids all over the world have some common needs: hygiene items such as soap, a toothbrush, wash cloths. School supplies such as paper, pencils, glue sticks and crayons are always good.

Then there’s what Fowler calls a “wow” gift, something more personal for that kid, or kids in that age group. Soccer balls are always good.

The record 2,787 boxes collected at Calvary Chapel in Edwards come from Eagle, Summit, Routt, Pitkin and Garfield counties, and each area also saw an increase this year.

Fowler said they set an aggressive goal for 2017, 2,750 boxes, a 33 percent increase over last year.

The numbers are still going up. They have a processing center in Denver, where boxes are collected for this part of the country and are shipped around the globe.

Vail Christian High School students packed 39 boxes and were so excited about it that they drove their boxes to the Denver collection center. While they were there, the students spent a day packing trucks and shipping containers.

Operation Christmas Child is part of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, parent organization of Samaritan’s Purse. Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has collected and delivered more than 146 million gift-filled shoeboxes to children in more than 160 countries and territories.

Staff Writer Randy Wyrick can be reached at 970-748-2935 and rwyrick@vaildaily.com.