Tis’ the season! With Christmas right around the corner, Norwin High School participates in many activities to give back to those in need. On Monday, Nov. 13, the Global Scholars program joined Interact Club in Operation Christmas Child, where students built and packed shoe boxes to send out to children across the world.
Operation Christmas Child is a project run by Samaritan’s Purse, with the goal of sending Christmas gifts to children in need across the world. Through Operation Christmas Child, millions of boxes are sent out each year. According to Samaritanspurse.org, partnering with other countries, “over 10.6 million shoebox gifts [were sent] to children worldwide,” and “more than 200 million” in the last 30 years.
This year, Interact and Global Scholars members packed 31 boxes to be sent out all across the world. Prior to packing the boxes, students sign up for items to bring in for the boxes. Each box includes at least 6 items, including books, puzzles, toothpaste, socks gloves, sports items, stuffed animals, and more. The age ranges from 2-14, for both boys and girls.
“31 boxes are being sent out, and are sent all around the world,” said Mrs. Spang, Interact Club advisor. “Some of our boxes will be tracked and we will get to see where they end up.”
Tracking the boxes’ location allows the members to have a sense of where the child they helped is located since boxes are sent throughout the world. Interact Club has been participating in Operation Christmas Child for over 20 years. However, Global Scholars participating in a relatively new addition, and they plan to continue to do so.
“Global Scholars has joined Interact Club the past 2 years to help with the Operation Christmas Child project,” commented Mrs. Llerena, Global Scholars advisor.
This year, there was an exceptional turnout. With about 40 students donating and participating in packing the boxes, hundreds of items are being distributed and sent out to kids across the world.
With such a great turnout, both Interact Club and the Global Scholars program plan to continue this tradition within Norwin High School.
