By Valerie Posthumus
The Haldimand Press
DUNNVILLE—On Thursday, November 17, 2022 the Dunnville First Baptist Church Youth Group was busy packing shoe boxes at the church.
They collected 557 boxes from Dunnville, Selkirk, Sweets Corners, and Wainfleet which will go to the Philippines, various African countries, and Ukraine this year. The total number of boxes was down slightly from last year, but the group noted that people also had the option to cover the costs of a box online instead of building the box themselves, and those donations are not captured at the local level.
Some of the group members shared their thoughts on the program. Jonathan Jobb said, “They go to the children who need toys at Christmas. It makes me feel happy.”
His sister, Samantha Jobb, shared her thoughts, “It means showing other kids that you care about them.”
Jeremy Tunks added, “It’s important to give back to these kids that can’t afford stuff. There’s an important meaning to it.”
Alexis Smith concluded saying, “It means a lot; it’s important to get together with community to help others in need.”
Linda Jordan explained the next steps for the boxes: “From here they go to Welland, the regional drop off centre. From Welland they collect them from all of southern Ontario and they go to Calgary, where boxes from all over Canada are collected.”
Jordan added, “They then go through the boxes to make sure there is no war related items or liquid items in them and then they are shipped overseas.”
If you’d like to be a part of the youth group or the shoe box campaign in the future, contact the Dunnville First Baptist Church at 114 Broad Street East, by phone at 905-774-7225, by email at youthpastor@dunnvillefirstbaptistchurch.ca, or find them on Facebook.
