Shoebox Ministry brings cheer to needy children

Again this holiday season, Sonoma-area churches worked to collect and fill shoeboxes with gifts for needy children. Of the 10,000-plus filled shoeboxes received in the North Bay, an incredible 1508 – or 14 percent – came from Valley churches and the Sonoma community The Shoebox Ministry, as the program is known, is part of an organization called Operation Christmas Child/ Samaritan’s Purse which, nationwide, collects donations either in the form of filled shoeboxes, or money with which to fill them. The millions of filled shoeboxes are then shipped to one of six warehouses throughout the United States where each is inspected and prepared for shipment throughout the world. In Sonoma, the churches responsible for collecting and filling the shoeboxes include First Baptist Church, Lighthouse Christian Church, Sonoma Valley Community Church, St. Andrew Presbyterian, Faith Presbyterian, and Craig Baptist Church. Area Boy Scouts were also involved.