November 14, 2006

DNR Law Enforcement collects shoeboxes for kids in need

SC Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement officers have collected 350 shoeboxes from their fellow officers within the department since mid-October as part of Operation Christmas Child. That’s 350 shoeboxes collected from 217 officers around South Carolina.

All shoeboxes will be brought to 1000 Assembly Street in front of the Rembert Dennis Building lobby in Columbia on Nov. 16 at 8:30 a.m. The shoeboxes will then be taken to a dropoff location in Charlotte and distributed to children around the United States and the world.

Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan's Purse, an international Christian relief organization headed by Franklin Graham. Nov. 13 - 20, is national collection week for Operation Christmas Child, when more than 2,000 locations across all 50 states, staffed by thousands of volunteers, will be open to collect millions of shoe-box gifts for needy and hurting children. Operation Christmas Child encourages children, families, churches and groups to fill empty shoeboxes with toys, school supplies, hygiene items and a personal note to distribute to children in need.

Last year, gifts from the U.S. and 10 other countries were hand-delivered to more than 7.6 million children. Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts transcend all barriers - language, cultural, geographical and political - to give hurtling children joy and hope. Since 1993, 46 million shoebox gifts have been hand delivered to needy children in more than 120 countries on six continents.