Employees from the Hawaii Police Department donated 136 boxes of Christmas gifts destined for children in need around the world.
Employees from the Hawaii Police Department donated 136 boxes of Christmas gifts destined for children in need around the world.
The boxes were presented to representatives of Operation Christmas Child on Thursday at the South Hilo Police Station.
Operation Christmas Child is a yearly community project that reaches out to children in need who have never experienced the kindness of receiving a gift. Shoe-box gifts are collected around the state in this international effort to assist those in war-torn countries or suffering from famine, sickness and poverty.
Nell Quay, Operation Christmas Child’s area coordinator for East Hawaii, said a shipping container carrying the gift boxes will be picked up today to sail out of Hilo for processing in California before the presents reach their final destination.
Quay said she had the privilege of going to Colombia last year to help distribute Christmas boxes at a public school in the South American nation.
Steve Meek, Operations Christmas Child’s collections coordinator, said Hawaii Island collected more than 8,300 shoe boxes to combine with a total of more than 42,000 across the state in 2015.
Internationally, 11.2 million boxes were sent to 110 countries.