Our very generous community sent 141 filled shoeboxes to Operation Christmas Child for worldwide distribution.

This year, several eager high school students were introduced to the process. They assembled pre-printed boxes, organized and filled them, plus wrote personal heart-warming notes for 28 of the boxes. They helped send the message of Christian hope where sometimes there is little. The students were a welcome, and hopefully permanent, addition to our project.

We are continually grateful to Theresa Chevalier and her staff at Kings Marine for saving shoeboxes throughout the year. The Presbyterian Church hosts and assembles the larger over overpacked cartons, and the Mary Martha Circle ladies sponsor and help accumulate items included in the boxes. We are so grateful for their commitment. Our faithful Friday Harbor Freight continues to transport everything to His Place in Burlington, where they are forwarded to a clearance center and on to their final destination.

Simple gifts like stuffed animals, toothbrushes, crayons, felt pens, pencils, stickers Play Play-Doh, t-shirts, fuzzy socks and toys brighten lives for children who have so little. We say Thank You to all who bring Christmas to children in another part of our world. Our boxes are part of over 200 million sent since the project began in 1993.

Merry Christmas!

Mayr Ray and Ann Wiese, San Juan Island