Operation Christmas Child is in full swing again in Yorkton.
The annual charitable effort provides shoeboxes filled with gifts of school supplies, toys, necessities and notes of encouragement to kids in the third world.
Samaritan's Purse, the faith-based relief organization that organizes the distribution of the boxes, says it is intended to, "let hurting children know God loves them and they are not forgotten."
This year, Samaritan's Purse expects to surpass a milestone of 100 million children reached since the project began in 1993.
Yorkton's contribution to that effort should be around 800 boxes according to local organizer Diana Dobko.
The boxes are available at Prairie Harvest Christian Life Centre, Liquidation World, Yorkton Golden Rule and The Dollar Store. Along with the box, a handy pamphlet instructs donors on what to include and what not to include and how to complete the donation.
Donors can also put together a box online at samaritanspurse.ca/shoebox.
The deadline to drop off the boxes is November 24. The collection centre for Yorkton is Western Financial Group at 2 Broadway Street East.
From there volunteers will package the boxes for shipment to the western Canada collection centre in Calgary. Boxes from the Calgary Centre will be wind up in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Venezuela, Paraguay, Guinea and Equatorial Guinea.
For those interested in seeing where their donation goes, a tracking number allows donors to follow the box online from drop off all the way to its destination country.
For more information on the local drive call Diana Dobko at 782 2506.
