On November 27-29, Don and Patt Hopper and Wernau Malta traveled to the OCC West Coast Region Processing and Distribution Center in Santa Ana to volunteer some time inspecting and sorting several hundred of the 900,000 shoe box gifts expected there this year. The gifts from the West Coast Processing Center will make their final journey to needy children in one of the following countries: Mongolia, Nepal, Panama, Peru, or the Philippines.
Don enjoyed his second visit to the Processing Center and seeing the age range of the volunteers...from 13 years to 80 years old. Wernau had never volunteered at a Processing Center before and was amazed at the number of people and from the time she walked in--how well everything was organized, how well she was trained, and the wonderful atmosphere among the other volunteers. My thought (from Patt) as I was inspecting the contents of shoe boxes, was that the next hands to touch the items would be a precious child. My prayer for each child was that they would receive joy and some much wanted and needed items in the shoe box; and that each child would know that the gifts were sent by someone who loved them. I really enjoyed each shoe box that contained a personal note and sometimes a photo of the sender...to know that so much love exists in this world makes me know this is STILL a wonderful place to be.
In addition to Santa Ana, there are six other OCC Processing and Distribution Centers in the US, where shoe box gifts are prepared for shipment to children in more than 100 countries around the world...children who, many times, have never received a gift before and live in conditions we can not even consider. This is OCC 20th year of sending shoe box gifts around the world and it will be highlighted by the 100-Millionth shoe box to be given.
The United States is joined by 11 other countries where people fill shoe boxes for children. This year an expected worldwide total of 9 million shoe boxes will be sent to as many children. More information and photos can be found at www.samaritanspurse.org.
By, Patt Hopper
