Spread the gospel through a simple gift held in a shoebox

Mariya Snizhko recounts how hope arrived in the form of a gift-filled shoebox when she was a child.

Mariya Snizhko was born in Ukraine and raised by Christian parents. When the Soviet Union fell, Ukraine was in dire financial instability. Even though her parents worked hard, they rarely got paid. The family of eight lived in a one-room apartment with only the bare necessities.

 In 2002, Snizhko received an Operation Christmas Child shoebox gift. Snizhko’s favorite items were colored pencils, markers and crayons, which fueled her creativity and her enthusiasm for art. 

The gift strengthened her faith and trust in God because when her family least expected it, the gift came to them filled with items that they needed. It was a tangible experience of watching God care and provide for His children.

 Snizhko and her family moved to the United States when she was 12 years old. Three years later, her youth leader brought empty Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes for her youth group to pack. She recognized the box and has been packing shoeboxes since. 

 Snizhko encourages others to pack their own shoebox gifts— with school supplies, hygiene items, notes of encouragement and fun toys, such as a doll or soccer ball—with the goal of contributing 60,500 from Nebraska alone toward the global goal of reaching 12 million children. In 2015, the number of shoeboxes collected in Nebraska was 56,016.

 During Operation Christmas Child’s National Collection Week, Nov. 14 – 21, Nebraska participants can drop off gift-filled shoeboxes at convenient locations throughout the state and can use the Drop-off Locator on Operation Christmas Child’s website to find locations nearby based on their ZIP code.

For more information on how to participate in Operation Christmas Child, call (816) 622-8316 or visit samaritanspurse.org/occ. By going online to give the suggested donation of $7 per shoebox gift, participants can follow their box to discover where in the world it will be delivered. They can also pack a shoebox gift online and even upload a photo and note of encouragement.

 Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian relief and evangelism organization headed by Franklin Graham. The mission of Operation Christmas Child is to demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way to children in need around the world, and together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has collected and delivered more than 135 million gift-filled shoeboxes to children in more than 150 countries and territories. For many of these children, the gift-filled shoebox is the first gift they have ever received.