West End Community pledges to fill hundreds of shoeboxes with gifts for needy kids at their annual Packing Party Sunday November 16.

Just in time for the Operation Christmas Child National Collection Week kick-off, the West End Community Centre will be hosting a community Shoebox Packing Party on Sunday, November 16. The community is invited to bring along toys, school supplies and hygiene items to pack into empty shoeboxes, for delivery to impoverished children around the world.

Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical Christian humanitarian organization, who have collected more than 100 million shoeboxes since 1993 and sent to needy kids in over 100 countries. National Collection week runs from November 17-23 when collection sites across Canada will receive the gift-filled boxes, and proceed to deliver them to impoverished children in Ukraine, Central and South America.

Meta Communities’ Event Organizer and Pastor Dennis Wilkinson hopes the Vancouver Community can join together to send some joy to children in need around in the world, which for many is the first gift they have ever received.

“This project is for the common good of humanity, and I think everyone should get involved so we can send our goal of 700,000 shoeboxes from Canada. Last year, our local community was able to bless children suffering untold loss after the typhoon ravaged their homes in the Philippines. This year we want to exceed our previous efforts and help many more children in need,” says Wilkinson.

Anyone can participate and fill a shoebox – all the details can be found at http://jellymarketing.com/operation-christmas-child/. More details on the Meta Communities Packing Party can be found at http://metacommunities.ca/events/shoe-box-time.