St. Charles Families Make Life-Changing Impact With Simple Gifts

Operation Christmas Child, a project of international Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse, delivers gift-filled shoeboxes to millions of children in need each year. Thousands of St. Charles families have packed shoebox gifts for boys and girls around the world. One of these gifts reached Irina Creek in the former Soviet Union when she was a young girl. Creek is now visiting St. Charles County residents to share how the simple gift had a life-changing impact.

Creek, hosted by the local project of Operation Christmas Child, will be telling her story to groups, churches and schools. She wants to encourage residents as they kick off the upcoming collection season to fill more than 19,400 shoeboxes with fun toys, school supplies and hygiene items—contributing to the global goal of reaching 11 million children in Jesus’ Name.

Creek will speak at New Creation Presbyterian Church, 1459 Wentzville Parkway in Wentzville on Friday, Sept. 14 at 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. (New Creation Church is located on the back side of the Parkway Plaza building.) This event is open to the public. Come meet Irina and enjoy a free dessert reception after her presentation.

Irina was born into a broken family in the former Soviet Union. After being abandoned by addiction-riddled parents at the age of 4, she was moved into an orphanage. She remained hopeful of a reunion with her family, but the years passed and after frequent abuse, she was eventually moved to a new orphanage.

When Irina was 10 years old, a missionary group gave the orphanage children Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts. Through this gift, Irina felt unique for the first time and was touched by the message of God’s love. A year later, her prayer of adoption was answered by a family in South Carolina.

Irina is now passionate about sharing hope and joy with millions of boys and girls affected by poverty, natural disaster, war, terror, disease and famine through Operation Christmas Child.

During Operation Christmas Child’s National Collection Week Nov. 12 – 19, St. Charles residents can drop off gift-filled shoeboxes at multiple locations. Use the online locator on samaritanspurse.org/occ to find the nearest drop off.

For more information on how to participate in Operation Christmas Child, call 636-328-7871 or visit samaritanspurse.org/occ. Participants can donate $9 per shoebox gift online through “Follow Your Box” and receive a tracking label to discover its destination. Those who prefer the convenience of online shopping can browse samaritanspurse.org/buildonline to select gifts matched to a child’s specific age and gender, then finish packing the virtual shoebox by adding a photo and personal note of encouragement.

Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian relief and evangelism organization headed by Franklin Graham. The mission of Operation Christmas Child is to demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way to children in need around the world, and together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has collected and delivered more than 157 million gift-filled shoeboxes to children in more than 160 countries and territories.