DNR Law Enforcement collects shoeboxes for kids in need

South Carolina 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. The S.C. Wildlife Law Enforcement Association also partnered in the project.

All shoeboxes were brought to the Columbia S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) office on Nov. 16. The shoeboxes were then taken to a drop-off location in Charlotte and distributed to children around the United States and the world.

“I am proud of our officers coming together to make this project a success,” said Col. Alvin Taylor, deputy director of DNR Law Enforcement Division, “It’s a chance for us to serve a public that we don’t even know.”

“We were able to get another 150 on top of the 350 DNR collected,” said Buck Sgt. D.J. Riley of Easley, “because one of our officers got the word to a school that we would be glad to transport their shoeboxes to Charlotte.”

Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan's Purse, an international Christian relief organization headed by the Rev. 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 hurting 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.