This Christmas workshop needs more than one day

For volunteer Marisa Van Wormer, Operation Christmas Child is a year-round ministry.

This year in May, that ministry took her to Zambia, where she helped distribute shoeboxes filled with gifts to children.

“It was really a gift to be selected,” Van Wormer said. “I know the impact these boxes are making.”

Van Wormer’s journey to Zambia began in November, which is when collection of the shoeboxes for the offshoot organization of Samaritan’s Purse starts.

“Most people know of this as a Christmas program. In the states where we collect the boxes, the push is in the third week of November; we like to engage people in the spirit of giving,” Van Wormer said.

While boxes are donated during the holiday season, most of the work is done after Christmas. Spokane-area volunteers work in the months after donations come in to sort and ship 16,000 vibrant red and green shoeboxes worldwide. Inside the boxes are toys, clothing, hygiene items and school supplies.

“It’s a program of love and giving,” Van Wormer said. “It’s used as an outreach tool to share the love of Christ.”

Most shoeboxes are sent to volunteers in other countries who have also been working to plan and distribute the gifts.

Due to the extended network of worldwide volunteers, Americans are rarely needed to hand out gifts, but Van Wormer and 23 other volunteers were invited to go to Zambia.

“There’s something about when you get involved in packing shoeboxes year after year and seeing the videos Samaritan’s Purse puts out,” Van Wormer said. “There grows in you this desire to see this in person.”

In May, Van Wormer and the other volunteers, including two from Yakima, traveled to multiple churches in Zambia.

“It was a big deal, it was an event,” Van Wormer said. “The kids sang songs for us. The leader of the church did a great job presenting the Gospel.”

The children – 200 at each distribution site – were not allowed to open their boxes until everyone was given a gift, Van Wormer said, which created immense tension in the room.

“That was a very surreal moment for me to be there and soak in all the excitement,” Van Wormer said. “They had never seen some of the items in these boxes.”

In the U.S., Christmas gifts are often extravagant, but Van Wormer said some of the most appreciated gifts were school supplies.

“I remember asking one girl what she hoped was in her box and she said, ‘I just want a notebook. I just want a notebook so I can go to school,’ ” Van Wormer said. “And she got a notebook. She came up to me and hugged me and thanked me.”

Van Wormer said all gifts and items were valued, no matter their size or perceived worth.

“This ministry, as simple as it is, is making an impact,” Van Wormer said. “We are also giving kids an opportunity to go to school. I would encourage anyone who wonders if their box makes it to the destination and is appreciated that yes, every box makes it to a child and is respected and appreciated.”

As Operation Christmas Child only sends one group of U.S. volunteers a year, Van Wormer does not expect to be selected again. Instead, she hopes to use her experience to grow the Spokane organization.

“I’m going to look at this like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Van Wormer said. “I hope that my fellow volunteers who have been waiting to go would be able to go. It definitely has been able to spur new passion for what I do here in Spokane.”

Van Wormer has packed shoeboxes for 23 years, and has worked for the past eight years to increase the organization’s donations and volunteer pool.

In the past three years, the Spokane area’s volunteer force has grown from three to 50, allowing separate groups in the Palouse and Idaho Panhandle to split off and form their own organization.

“We’ve seen God really come in and grow our volunteer team and really grow the love of ministry in our area,” Van Wormer said.

She is training more donation coordinators and aiming to increase donations to more than 17,000 boxes in the Spokane area.

Her trip to Zambia allowed her to witness the effects of her work while renewing her passion and efforts for the coming donation season, Van Wormer said.

“To be there in person was very surreal for me. There was so much confirmation and a renewed passion for why I do what I do,” Van Wormer said.