Operation Christmas Child is underway and the Strathmore Alliance Church is a drop-off destination. 

Individuals, families, churches, businesses, sports teams, and community groups are now packing shoeboxes with items to be delivered to children in need around the world.

Media Relations Manager for Samaritan’s Purse Canada, Frank King, expressed that this year, they are making it easier for people to gift a shoebox to a child in need.

"If residents are running out of time to fill a shoebox, they can go to packabox.ca. It's so easy. It's like shopping at Amazon."

National Shoebox Week is November 13-19, which is the prime time to get shoeboxes packed and delivered to Strathmore Alliance Church. 

"What we need the most is school supplies, hygiene items, and toys. One of the things we like is when folks put in what we call a 'wow' item. Something like a deflated soccer ball, for example."

Toothbrushes are another item that a lot of the children in third world countries often go without and need the most. 

"With a lot of families they either have to share toothbrushes or in some places, there are no toothbrushes at all and the kids have to use pieces of wood."

One request when a box is packed is that residents put a little note and a picture in the box so the children who will receive it, know where and who the box came from.

There is also an option to do the same online. 

"When you pack a box online you can upload a note and a photo for each of your shoeboxes, and then early in the new year when we get hundreds of volunteers together at the processing lab in Calgary, to actually physically pack the boxes that folks have done online, we download those notes and photos and we put them in the appropriate shoeboxes."

King said that now is the time for people to order free shoeboxes -- these shoeboxes are ready for assembly and to be filled. 

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