By Jennifer Chernishenko, Administrative Assistant at Integrated Sustainability
Recently, employees of Integrated Sustainability volunteered at Samaritan’s Purse (SP) to help out with their Operation Christmas Child program (OCC). The OCC Program started in 1990 as a way to distribute shoeboxes full of gifts to children around the world. Since then, over 100 million boxes have been sent out, and this year, SP is reaching out to new countries that have been war-torn or affected by Ebola, in particular the Ukraine and Sierra Leone. The boxes which are filled with toys , candy, and items for hygiene and school, may be the only gifts the children have ever received (Samaritan’s Purse 2014).
Integrated Sustainability staff participated in the event on two separate nights in December 2014. Each shift began with a video about the different roles (pre-inspection, inspection, and taper) and what items are acceptable in each box. After the video, volunteers headed into the warehouse, were assigned a pod station, and got to work. At the end of the shift, estimates of how many boxes were packed during that particular shift were announced. Over the two nights, approximately 8,500 boxes were packed. The amount of boxes going to the children really goes to show what we can accomplish when we work as a team.
We all really enjoyed the experience and were excited to be part of an organization working to brighten the holidays for children and their families all around the world. We will definitely keep looking for even more ways to get involved in our community in the New Year!