Kuemper students spread Christmas joy around world

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
November 25, 2004

CARROLL - Students at Kuemper Catholic Schools - St. Lawrence Center are sure to spread a little Christmas joy this holiday season to children from other parts of the world. With their participation in Operation Christmas Child, they filled 32 shoeboxes with toys, school supplies and other goodies.

According to Kathy Stipe, Kuemper middle school science teacher, these shoeboxes will be distributed worldwide to children affected by war, poverty, disease and disaster.

She pointed out that about six years ago, she became involved with Operation Christmas Child at home, using it as a service project for her family. After Stipe became employed by Kuemper last year, she thought it might be a good idea to introduce it to the middle school students.

The teacher distributed information to the various homerooms and each homeroom opted whether or not to participate in the project. In all about half of the sixth to eighth grade students were involved in Operation Christmas Child.

This is an international project that is coordinated by Franklin Graham, Billy Graham's son. Last year Operation Christmas Child collected 216,934 shoe boxes in the Upper Midwest Region consisting of donations from Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. These boxes were sent to children in Rwanda, Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Iraq, Thailand, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Honduras and Chile.

"These shoeboxes go to very remote places in the world or places that have been really struggling due to war, poverty or diseases," said Stipe.

Each box was geared to either a boy or girl and a specific age group.

"Some of the kids worked in groups or pairs and took care of a box themselves. Others brought in items and we would tuck them into the appropriate box," noted Stipe.

All of the items had to be new. Some of the more popular items included in the boxes were coloring books, markers, crayons, toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, stuffed animals and matchbox cars. Hard candy topped off the items and filled any voids.

"Each box will also have a Gospel message placed in it - in their own language," noted the teacher. "So not only is this a way to share our blessings with them, but it is also a way to spread the message of Jesus."

The teacher said that since her students were able to go out and select items for the boxes, it helped create more ownership in the project.

"I thought of things I would like if I were a little kid. Then it was going out to buy those things," said Chelsey Sapp, an eighth grader.

Another eighth grader, Rachel Nees, said, "We have so much to share. It is nice to give things to other people who are less fortunate."

To kickoff the project the teacher showed a video that highlighted some of the children receiving the boxes.

"It showed how they would take the boxes around - in canoes, on horseback, on horse and cart. They are really going to some remote places and I think the kids are just amazed by the conditions that some children have to live in. They realize that anything they put in the shoebox will bring incredible joy to others," said Stipe.

Through involvement in this project, she said it helped reinforce to the students what Christmas is really supposed to be all about.