Operation Christmas Child wrapped up for another year

Photo by Jazmine Kauk

Eric Tyulyandin, Co-Head Editor
December 7, 2018

The West Fargo High School Key Club is participating in Operation Christmas Child again this year. Operation Christmas Child is a project done through Samaritan’s Purse that brings gifts to children in third world countries through donations and gift boxes made by volunteers and donors. These gifts are categorized by gender and by age so that the recipients get gifts that are appropriate for them. The program was started in 1990 and then merged into the Samaritan’s Purse in 1993.

Junior Mikyla Brix has been in Key Club since freshman year. She was the secretary up until she accepted a role as a district representative. Brix says that Operation Christmas Child is one of her favorite activities that Key Club.

“So what we do is we collect toys, colored pencils, notebooks, and stuff like that and things kids would enjoy and we use them in boxes and we send them overseas to countries so that the kids can enjoy their Christmas,” Brix said. “My favorite part I think would be giving back and knowing these kids are having the opportunity to have these items that they may not normally get.”

Lisa Mulvaney is the adviser for Key Club and has been with the club for 10 years. Key Club has been doing Operation Christmas Child since before Mulvaney was the adviser for it. At the time of collection, Mulvaney gets all of the gifts and brings them to her church, which is a collection center for the program.

“My favorite part is when we get to see some of the videos of kids receiving their gifts or we get to follow the package and know that it is actually delivered,” she said. “I think my favorite projects [that Key Club participates in] would have to be our giving closet, which we call the Room of Requirement now… and also the Feed It Forwards project.”

The Key Club was able to send 50 boxes out. Each box is roughly $9, and the Key Club raised roughly $40-$50 for postage. The rest of the money for postage came from a donation of an individual who owns a local business who heard about what Key Club was doing and wanted to help out.

Senior Alexis Wohl is the President of Key Club. Wohl said Operation Christmas Child is fun and rewarding as she is making a difference and helping out children that otherwise would not get gifts on Christmas.

“My favorite part of doing Operation Christmas Child is filling the shoe boxes with what I think a girl ages 5-9 might like or a boy ages 10-14 might like,” Wohl said. “It is a lot of fun knowing that I’m going to make a difference in a child’s life this Christmas by giving them a present.”