Jayhawks give smiles to kids all over the world

Friday, Nov. 11, 2016

OGDEN —More than 180 shoeboxes filled with Christmas gifts are on their way to children who have faced tragedy in other parts of the world, courtesy of the Saint Joseph Catholic High School community. 

Students, teachers and staff at St. Joseph’s packed the boxes for Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan’s Purse, a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization that since 1970 “has helped meet the needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose sharing God’s love through His Son, Jesus Christ,” according to the organization website, samaritanspurse.org.

Operation Christmas Child arrived at Saint Joseph CHS as part of a desire to establish new partnerships and “reaching outside of our community and creating awareness of what’s going out there,” said Alicia Behnken, a languages teacher at the school, who together with Lafe Peavler, science teacher, and Dr. Monika Serbinowska, mathematics teacher, organized the project at the school.

“The kids need to know about what’s going on outside because everyone takes it for granted when you have many gifts under your tree, … so we decided as a school that around this time for Christmas we are going to be doing this,” Behnken said. “Hopefully it’s going to become a tradition.” 

Almost every student at the school participated in the project, which consisted of filling an average shoebox with gifts. Each giver was able to choose whether a boy or girl would receive the gifts; the age of the recipients ranged from 2 to 14. The givers also prayed for the child who will receive the box and included a note, a picture and their own address in case the child receiving the box wants to stay in contact.

“The kids have taken a lot of pride doing [the boxes]. Seeing them all excited about thinking of the reactions of the child who will be opening that particular box that they filled has been great,” said Behnken.

For Peavler, who spend some years in Guatemala, “seeing how there are some folks that have absolutely nothing, I know that these toys will mean the world for them,” he said.

Each box was unique, as the person creating it chose different items with the individual recipient in mind. For example, sophomore Therese Wandrey included a teddy bear and a prayer book among the gifts she put in her box.

“This has open up my mind that everyone has a different need. … Having the opportunity to help people in a faraway country is just amazing,” she said. “To be able to go and get gifts and think about how they will feel when they open them has made me very happy, and it has warmed my heart to think that we can put a smile on a child’s face.”

Many of the St. Joseph CHS teachers joined the students in embracing the project with their hearts.

“If we can make one single child know that he or she is not alone, that he or she is loved by God, that means the world,” said Serbinowska, who included some inspirational books in the box she filled. “I really hope that I have them believe that they are loved by Jesus Christ and that they can make a difference in the world. … This project has helped our students realize how fortunate we are and how others are not.”

Faculty member Chad Loosemore and his wife assembled two boxes, one for a boy and one for a girl.  The project had a very personal meaning for them, he said, because early in their marriage, he and his wife discovered they couldn’t have children, “so the idea that we could share some of our gifts with other children meant a whole lot so for us. It is just more personal. I am so glad that the school did this project.”

St. Joseph CHS Principal Clay Jones said that he was impressed and thankful for the school community’s response to the project.

“It’s been great, seeing the kids’ response and how they have stepped up and brought these boxes. There are many people in need and so many things to do,” he said. 

With almost 200 boxes filled, the school exceeded its goal of 174 boxes – one for each student and faculty member. On Nov. 6, the boxes were taken to the Elevation Church in Clearfield to be shipped.

“They can land in Latin America, in Central America,  in Africa – we exactly don’t know where they will be landing, but it for sure gives us great excitement to be able to do this,” Behnken said.