Samaritan’s Purse Organizes 'Operation Christmas Child'

It sharpened my senses of the need outside of myself and the world around me. My heart is huge for Honduras.

-Jillian Racchini

By Alexandra Cockar
In developing nations, children can’t go to school if they don’t have school supplies, said Jillian Racchini of Laramie, Wyoming. That’s one of the things that stood out to her while she was in Honduras in February delivering school supplies and toys to children as the southeast Wyoming area team coordinator for Operation Christmas Child. The project is administered by Samaritan’s Purse, a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization that provides aid to hurting people around the world, according to information on its website, www.samaritanspurse.org.

Operation Christmas Child engages community members through churches, schools and local businesses to donate school supplies, toys and hygiene items to children in developing countries. The items are packed in shoe boxes and taken to a distribution center from which they are then shipped to children overseas.

Samaritan’s Purse asks area coordinators to participate in the distribution. Accepting the opportunity is optional, but Racchini said she couldn’t turn it down.

It was her first trip overseas. In her 12 years with the organization, she learned about life overseas through reports of those who traveled, she said. Still, seven days in Honduras was an eye-opener, she said.

“It was very humbling to recognize that I have been given a privilege of being born in America and have so many blessings,” she said. “What really overwhelmed me was going to a developing country and seeing how connected those people were to each other, the love that they had for one another, the warmth that they displayed to us, their generosity to us. [Here] people are very reserved and you kind of have to inch your way into relationships with people, but there, with each other and with us, they are so warm and so loving; when you say good-bye to somebody, it’s a hug and a kiss on the cheek no matter who you are.”

While in Honduras, one day Racchini was in a poor church, preparing to give out shoe boxes. The church members wanted to feed the children before their received their shoe boxes. One girl, about 9 years old, refused to eat. She didn’t even want to take her plate before her 5-year-old brother had his food first, Racchini said.

“She didn’t understand that everybody was going to get it, but she was so worried about her little brother eating first that she cried,” she said. “It sharpened my senses of the need outside of myself and the world around me. My heart is huge for Honduras.”

About 100 countries receive gift-filled shoe boxes from Samaritan’s Purse. A leadership team in each country finds churches, schools or orphanages to pass the boxes to.

The majority of shoe boxes from Laramie will go to a distribution center in Denver and then go to Mexico, Racchini said. Samaritan’s Purse encourages people to donate US$7 to cover the cost of shipping. Once the payment is made online at www.samaritanspurse.org/occ, you can attach the payment label to your shoe box. You will be notified what country it went to once it’s scanned at the destination.

Every shoe box comes with a Bible and children can decide if they want to take it. The organization doesn’t withhold the shoe box from children who don’t take the Bible, and it doesn’t focus only on Christian communities, Racchini said.

Note: This article was reprinted with permission of the author. It was originally published in the Laramie Boomerang of Laramie, Wyoming.

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