by Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

NNSL (Dec 22/97) - Operation Christmas Child takes care of everything from toothpaste to toys.

Sponsored by Samaritan's Purse, a Christian relief program, gift-filled shoeboxes are sent to children in impoverished countries.

Three communities across the territories participated in Operation Christmas Child this year. With their efforts flying off to children in Mexico and Central America, 920 boxes were sent in from Fort Smith, Hay River and Yellowknife.

Donors in each community were asked to find an empty shoebox and to decide what sex and age of child would receive the Christmas gift. The boxes were filled with toys, school supplies, hygiene items and small items of clothing and books. Organizers asked donors to include a $5 fee to cover shipping costs from Calgary to the final destination.

Ray Currie and his wife Donna spearheaded the operation in Fort Smith.

The retired couple began organizing the drive two years ago after hearing about it in Calgary. They managed to collect 115 boxes this season, twice as many as last year.

Most of the boxes came from the community's children. "It's a lot of fun. Kids doing something for other kids and not having their hands out for something for themselves. It creates a different spirit, it's what Christmas is supposed to be about, says Ray, a retired teacher.

"People were stopping me on the street saying, 'You're that Christmas Child guy.' One guy was in the hospital and he gave $40 to someone else to buy the stuff."

Because most of their donors were children, the Legion Ladies Auxiliary of Fort Smith covered most of the freight costs from Calgary. Frontier Coach donated shipping costs of the boxes to Hay River where Operation's organizer Florence Archibald got Northwest Transport to kick in and deliver both community's donations into Calgary for free.

Archibald inspired the most donors in the NWT with a grand total of 455 boxes, translating into one in eight people in Hay River filling a shoebox.

She heard about the operation through her church three years ago. "It started when I filled one box and I latched onto it."

The real estate sales manager went after local businesses for donations. "The business community did marvellous things. One person would get enthused and generate interest in other places."

Archibald is pleading with Hay River residents to save their empty boxes for next year, a project she has already started to work on.

Yellowknife's branch of Operation Christmas Child is in its 10th year and was led by retired bishop John Sperry, who says military toys are not accepted as presents.

Residents of the NWT capital dropped off 350 shoeboxes to the Salvation Army. "We had the most interest this year. Next year, we're hoping to send 1,000 boxes," says Sperry. RTL trucked the boxes into Alberta on their own dime.

While Operation Christmas Child and Samaritan's Purse are both Christian organizations, the shoeboxes are not handed out on a denominational basis.

Says Sperry, "the boxes go to anyone, to impoverished children, to countries where there is poverty, famine and war."