“Christmas In A Shoebox” is the program KHNK runs each year to give the children at the Debre Libanos Orphanage a good Christmas. KHNK first began CIAS (Christmas In a Shoebox) in 2007, and every year since then has been a big success! We challenged the 150 high school students at The Calverton School in Huntingtown, MD to fill empty shoeboxes with toiletries, clothes, small toys, school supplies, and a special Christmas surprise. We provided the students with sticky labels with a gender and age range (i.e. BOY 4-6). The students filled shoeboxes, affixed the labels, and (at our request) included $5.00 to help with the shipping costs.
As a member of National Honor Society at Calverton, Mehron also led a group Honor Society to Calverton’s Lower School so they could participate in CIAS. In 2007, we collected 50 shoeboxes. 2008 yielded 54 shoeboxes, and 2009 marked the best year yet with 82 shoeboxes of materials received! Also new in 2009, the first and second grade classes collaborated to make Christmas cards to go in each of the care packages. The cards were made with much love and added a personal element to each child’s care package.
The “Girls of Character” ministry at Woodstream Church in Largo, MD also made generous contributions to the 2007 CIAS program. The girls created care packages to donate, and their contributions coupled with donations from Calverton helped make the Christmas of 2007 a good one for the orphans in Debre Libanos.
Check out our photo gallery for pictures from our “Care Package Assembly Days”, what we call the fun event of sorting the shoeboxes received from CIAS and preparing them for shipping to Ethiopia. Click here.
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| Pictured above are some of the shoeboxes we received! |
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