A bit of God’s love in every stitch, in every lock of hair

It’s never easy to say “good-bye” to friends but losing 24 at once was a little hard for Betsy Burnett of Elwood.

But knowing all 24 were bringing God’s love to other made it easier. Burnett recently received a letter of joyful appreciation from a single mom of three children, since one of the “friends” had wound up with that mom’s daughter.

Burnett’s “friends” are actually 24 dolls that she made to pack into shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child, a program of Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical Christian humanitarian aid organization.

The boxes are then shipped children overseas affected by “war, poverty, natural disaster, famine, and disease; and to children living on Native American reservations in the U.S,” according to the Operation Christmas Child website.

Burnett and her team actually pakced 1,700 shoeboxes in all. Burnett is also the area coordinator for Three Rivers IL region of Operation Christmas Child. Burnett said the region packed 17, 592 shoeboxes. Nationally, volunteers packed 7.8 million shoeboxes. Globally, they packed 9.1 million, Burnett said.

“It’s really a fun project,” Burnett said. “You get to use something so simple to bring joy to a child in another country.”

Burnett said Operation Christmas Child began in 1993 and Burnett packed her first shoebox a year later in honor of her young son. Burnett had two children the following year and packed two boxes. The next year, she had three children – and so, she packed three, Burnett said.

“I wanted to teach the kids about giving back,” Burnett said, “and make the holidays not so much about them receiving but about them doing for others.”

Items that typically go in the boxes include personal care products, school supplies, small toys and one “wow” gift, Burnett said. Volunteers decide on the gender and age range - 2 to 4, 5 to 9 or 10 to 14 - when selecting the items they wish to pack, she said.

A list of what to pack (and what not to pack), when to pack and where to send the shoebox are listed at samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/fact-sheet-occ/

“It’s amazing what can fit into a shoebox,” she said. “I take things out the packages; I roll them up tight. For the dolls, I used stretch headbands to fold in half to fit in the box.”

Burnett said she always suggests people pray before they pack.

“You might not ever hear back from the child on this side of heaven,” Burnett said. “But you just know the box got into the hands of the child that needed it.”

As for the dolls, someone “gifted” 24 doll kits to Burnett last summer, she said. The kits were easy to assemble, but they needed some work to transform them into a child’s “cherished plaything,” Burnett said.

So Burnett handstitched the dolls to close up lingering gaps, which took about six weeks, she said.

Some of the joints — and neck pieces — needed to be sewed or glued into place, she said.

The hair was uneven so Burnett trimmed and styled it, she said.

The dolls each came with a simple outfit, but Burnett – who loved to play with dolls as a child – knows changing the dolls’ clothing is part of the fun of playing with dolls. So Burnett put out a request on social media and was soon inundated with beautiful doll clothes, she said.

A friend offered to make each doll its own quilt in exchange for a doll.

Burnett also made the dolls miniature jump ropes from T-shirts, wash clothes from inexpensive towels, doll-sized “soap” from air-dryed clay and a printable set of paper dolls that Burnett scaled to size.

She added tiny cups, clothes pins, bouncy balls, hair clips, hair ties, paper parasols, pens, Teddy bears or rabbits and an Operation Christmas Child letter.

The whole point of sending the boxes is to let children know in a very tangible way that God loves them. Burnett said.

“The gift can affect child’s future; it can affect a child’s eternity,” Burnett said. “I really encourage everyone to get involved.”

Burnett would love to make another collection of dolls. But she can’t find the kits anywhere. She’s even contacted the distributor, she said.

However, Burnett does know, firsthand, the joy of opening such a box.

“The people at the church where I work at packed me my own shoebox a coupe years ago,” Burnett said. “And – oh my gosh! I was blown away.”

For more information, visit samaritanspurse.org and aimhappy.blogspot.com. For more information on local events, contact Burnett at occ3riversIL@gmail.com.