Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 5, 2007

HAY RIVER - For a dozen years, Hay River has been generously supporting Operation Christmas Child, an international effort to send gifts to less-fortunate youngsters around the world.

"Hay River is a great giving community, especially for something like this," said Glenn Wallington, the project co-ordinator in the community.

While helping children, Wallington said the project also lets people experience the joy of giving.

Under Operation Christmas Child, people fill shoeboxes with gifts, and they are shipped to more than 130 countries.

The shoeboxes from Hay River go to Central and South America.

Wallington said normally 350 to 400 shoeboxes are filled each year in Hay River. One year, there were about 575.

"It's about sharing. It's about love," Wallington said. "It's about bringing joy to some child's life."

As co-ordinator, he distributes shoeboxes to schools and churches. Individuals can also pick up shoeboxes from Wallington and at Greenway Realty.

Over the past decade, Lori Uhlenberg has been a contributor to Operation Christmas Child.

The Hay River senior said the shoeboxes go to children who really need it.

"What does it take to fill a shoebox?" she added.

In fact, Uhlenberg normally fills six to eight shoeboxes. However, she has had to skip this year because of medical reasons, but plans to "definitely" fill shoeboxes next year.

She fills shoeboxes for both boys and girls of different ages.

Uhlenberg fills her own shoeboxes, because she finds the official ones are too small.

"You can't put hardly anything in it," she said.

Her gifts include such things as games, clothes, a toothbrush, soap, pencils and a towel.

"You know a lot of those kids have never seen a towel," she said.

Wallington introduced the project to Hay River in 1996 when he was pastor of the Hay River Baptist Church.

The shoeboxes are shipped to Calgary, where they are opened and inspected to ensure all the gifts are appropriate.

For example, no war-related toys or knives are allowed.

Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan's Purse, a nondenominational Christian organization based in the United States.

The leader of the organization is Franklin Graham, the son of famed preacher Billy Graham.

"They do some pretty awesome things," Wallington said, adding Operation Christmas Child is just one of the organization's initiatives.

The deadline for shoeboxes to be filled and returned in Hay River is Nov. 10.

Wallington said many people add a Northern flavour to the gifts, often including inukshuks, stuffed polar bears and various NWT symbols.

The co-ordinator said the credit for the project's success in Hay River goes to the public and their continuing support.