The giving spirit of Christmas has started at Lanark Village

Residents donate 16 shoeboxes filled with items that will be sent to children in need
11/29/2021  - Deron Hamel
 

For the first time ever, Lanark Village is participating in Operation Christmas Child, an initiative organized each holiday season by Samaritan’s Purse, a Calgary-based charity, by donating shoeboxes filled with toys, school supplies and other items to children in need.

During National Collection Week, which ran Nov. 15-21, residents at the Kitchener, Ont. seniors living community filled 16 shoeboxes with items that have been sent to the charity via one of the many drop-off points Samaritan’s Purse has throughout Canada.

Lanark Village executive director Bradley Lukas says residents and team members demonstrated the Christmas spirit through their enthusiasm for the project.

“Residents and staff had fun collecting items and packing them up for the children, (and) we are so very thankful for the generosity that everyone has shown,” he tells S&R Today.

“As the Christmas season is quickly approaching, the project has gotten many into the gifting spirit.”

Lanark Village fun co-ordinator Emily Amos, who dropped off the shoeboxes with residents on Nov. 19, echoes Bradley’s sentiments.

“The residents really enjoyed choosing what to put in each box, what each little girl or boy would like,” she says.

“We also reminisced about what their children enjoyed receiving for Christmas when they were young.”

While this is the first time Lanark Village has participated in Operation Christmas Child, Bradley says it will not be the last.

“This is the first of hopefully an annual tradition at Lanark Village,” he says.

Operation Christmas Child was launched by Samaritan’s Purse in 1993. Since then, the charity has donated 187 million shoebox gifts to children in more than 100 countries.

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