Operation Christmas Child has been sending shoe boxes full of goodies to kids in need for years, and Calgarian Julie Hay has been there to help.
The project, run by Christian charity Samaritan’s Purse, gets people to pack Christmas gifts into shoeboxes to send to kids overseas. Julie has increased the number of shoeboxes she packs every year.
“Well every time that I go shop for myself I could pick up a couple of little items and stash them away and by the end of the year those little items that I stashed away kind of took over like, half a room,” she said.
Julie dedication to volunteer at the Operation Christmas Child processing centre for a few weeks every year encouraged the organization to hire her.
One of Hay’s family members comes from out of town to help fill boxes. Courtney Hay-Ogilvie says it’s great to be involved in such a good cause.
“I know it really inspires me just to see all the videos when you guys take the shoe boxes down and how much, like how happy the kids are,” she said.
Hay says she gets a lot of satisfaction from seeing people come in to help.
“I wanted to inspire our youth and help them to see that we're not the only ones in this world, this self-centred world that we live in,” she said.
For helping the less fortunate and inspiring others to do the same, Julie Hay is our Inspired Albertan this week.
