Many of us have fond memories of filling those colorful shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child, the Samaritan’s Purse program that collects gift-filled boxes for struggling kids around the world. Since it began in 1993, those boxes have brought joy and hope to over 198 million children.
Paulo Yavala was one of them.
“There were a lot of kids, and not enough boxes, so we had to share them,” he recalls. “One of my cousins got a wallet. We were looking for toys and fun stuff. I remember fighting with my brother over a toy car in one of the boxes. It was like the best day in the world. The first and only time I got to experience anything like that.”
Sixteen years later, the memory of that moment came flooding back to him as he and his wife, Jordan Yavala, helped pack shoeboxes at the Victory Family Church in Altona.
“I felt all those feelings again as I packed those boxes. I relived that memory. It was a happy moment for me,”Paulo says.
Jordan says, “There were about 50 other church members there. We were filling them with toys and other gifts for all the different age groups. There were lots of kids there, helping too. It was such a great way to teach them about giving. And it was such a neat thing to do together as a newly married couple.”
She remembers packing shoeboxes as a little girl.
“It was a really big deal, and I was so excited. I knew they were going to go across the world and that somebody was going to open them and get all those gifts we were preparing.”
What Jordan didn’t know at the time was that on the other side of the world in Fiji, Paulo’s dreams were about to come true as he opened one of those boxes. She had no knowledge of this when they started dating in March 2019.
“Around Christmas time, he saw some of the boxes at a store we were at, and he mentioned, ‘Oh my goodness! I remember opening one of those when I was a child!’ I told him, ‘Well, I remember packing one of those as a child.’ I had no idea that the organization I was doing that for was also helping the person I would marry one day. It was really like a fairy tale moment.”
Paulo’s father came to Canada in 2007 as part of a group recruited to work in the ag industry. Four years later, Paulo and his mother joined him.
“I’m still trying to get used to the winters,” he admits.
Packing a shoebox for the first time at the church that day was a surreal experience, he says.
“I remember I was so focused. I was in that moment. No one else was there but me as I packed that box. In my mind, I was that little boy again, delighted to get this present.”
Reflecting on the impact of the shoeboxes, Paulo says, “This is a very good idea. I see how many they have all over the world, and it makes me feel so good somebody is out there, doing this. I am living proof that these shoeboxes do find their way to the children who need them.”
He emphasizes that it doesn’t cost much, especially in Canada, where things are so readily available in local stores.
“You have everything you need here.”
“Kids are easier to please than you think,” Jordan adds. “Just being acknowledged and thought of by people who don’t even know you is enough to make a child feel valued and cared for.”
“This whole experience was like a crazy coin flip. Paulo remembers opening them, I remember giving them, and now, 16 years later, we got married and got to pack a box together, and that’s just the craziest, most wonderful thing.”
You can learn more online at www.samaritanspurse.ca/pack-a-shoebox.
