November 2013 Kids Make a Difference – Kate Henry
Congratulations to Kate Henry, our November winner! She has chosen Samaritan’s Purse to receive her donation.
Read her story below:
Our Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Collection, by Kate Henry (with Elizabeth and Taylor Henry)
Three years ago, my sisters and parents decided we would do more than our usual box-per-person Operation Christmas Child shoebox donation. We always had fun each filling up a shoebox full of toys, candy, toothbrushes, puzzles, hair bands, pencils, coloring books, etc. and sending it to Operation Christmas Child. They are a humanitarian organization that delivers the boxes every year to children in need all over the world. We decided we could do more. That idea came from my sister Elizabeth, who received one of these boxes when she was at her Ukrainian orphanage. I also was adopted from a Ukrainian orphanage at age 8 and know how much a child there would appreciate any gift because there just aren’t many in places like that.
Three years ago, we decided to ask friends to help us fill 100 boxes, and we were amazed, but we did. We provided empty boxes and got 100 back. Last year, we decided to see if we could fill 200 boxes. We got back 268. This year, we increased our goal to 300, and we will be counting them this weekend to see if we did it. My sisters took this project to Virginia Tech where they are at school, and also we asked other college friends to help out. Friends at UVA and ODU are also filling boxes. My school, Jamestown High School, my mom’s work place, Providence Classical School, and my Dad’s company in Connecticut are filling boxes too. Plus we have relatives up and down the east coast filling boxes or making donations.
Instead of sending 5 boxes as usual, this year we may be able to send 300. That means 300 kids who live in very poor places, like orphanages in Ukraine, or poor villages in Africa or South America, will gather when the delivery truck arrives and wait to see what someone in America has bought them. I hope that the child smiles a huge smile and knows that there is hope and love out there. We are privileged to help and reach out.
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