Shipping out gifts of caring

The garage of Michele MacNeal’s La Crescenta home was filled with cardboard boxes stacked up high to the ceiling on Sunday.

Inside the boxes were shoe boxes wrapped in Christmas paper. Each contained small gift items for young boys or girls.

With the help of hundreds of donors, MacNeal collected the shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child, an international service project organized by Samaritan’s Purse, a nonprofit organization that provides humanitarian aid to victims of poverty, disease, famine and natural disasters around the world.

Operation Christmas Child, which is an offshoot of Samaritan’s Purse, helps children who are less fortunate.

MacNeal started the project seven years ago with her family.

“I was really looking forward to doing it with my kids if nothing else,” she said. “It gave them the clear idea that there are kids around the world that have a lot less than they do.”

When the word got out about the cause, more people, including church groups, senior centers and Scouts, got involved with the project.

This year, MacNeal started her collection last Monday. By the end of the day, she had 589 shoe boxes in her garage. On Sunday afternoon, she had more than 1,500 boxes.

“It’s really a community effort to get this going,” MacNeal said. “People have been fabulous.”

Throughout the day, dozens of people came to MacNeal’s garage to drop off their boxes.

Girl Scouts from Troop 206 in Pasadena were on hand to assist.

Emma Woodman, 12, a Girl Scout, helped carry shoe boxes to the garage with fellow troop members, as cars pulled up to the driveway.

The girls offered to unload the boxes from the cars.

“We are trying to earn our badges and doing this has helped us become closer,” she said.

Glendale resident Ani Akopyan, children’s ministry director at Christ Armenian Church in La Crescenta, brought 118 shoe boxes to MacNeal’s garage.

“It’s an outreach project for our children’s ministry,” Akopyan said, of Operation Christmas Child. “It’s a way for our kids to give back and help other kids in need. They look forward to it each year.”

Akopyan also asked the congregation to donate items, such as hygiene products, school supplies and toys, for the shoe boxes.