By Mary O’KEEFE

Rosemont Middle School’s Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) Club is sponsoring a collection of items to help other children across the globe through Operation Christmas Child.

“This is our third year [collecting items],” said Susan Stefun, mentor of RAK.

Stefun’s church, Crescenta Valley Church, collects boxes for the organization. The items that are collected at Rosemont will be taken to the church for distribution through Operation Christmas Child.

So far the school is a little behind on its collection. There is a donation box in the Rosemont office, which has been emptied twice as of Wednesday morning.

“We have enough to fill about 10 shoeboxes,” Stefun said. “In the past we had enough to fill about 40.”

However the school started collecting the items a little later this year than in the past. The shoeboxes are filled with items designated for boys or girl in the age range from 2 to 4 years old, 5 to 9 years old and 10 to 14 years old. The boxes are mailed, at the cost of $7 each, to countries throughout the world for distribution to children in need.

Samaritan’s Purse is the sponsor of the operation, which began over 30 years ago.

“The mission of Operation Christmas Child is to demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way to needy children around the world, and together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ,” according to the Samaritan’s Purse website.

November 16-19 are the scheduled collection dates for Operation Christmas Child. There are several churches around Crescenta Valley that are collecting items including CV Church and First Baptist Church of La Crescenta, as well as Rosemont Middle School. Suggested items to donate include age appropriate small toys, toothbrushes, jewelry, hair ties, crayons and coloring books or anything that could fit into a shoebox. A donation of $7 can be made via check or online at the Samaritan’s website.

“Nothing liquid [should be donated], however, because you can’t mail liquids,” Stefun said.

Rosemont will be collecting items through Friday at 3 p.m. Anyone wishing to donate can do so by dropping their donation off at the Rosemont Middle School office. Items can be donated to CV Church and First Baptist also.

For more information on Operation Christmas Child, contact (800) 353-5949 or email occinfo@samaritan.org.

Rosemont Middle School is located at 4725 Rosemont Ave. CV Church is located at 4001 La Crescenta Ave. First Baptist Church of La Crescenta is located at 4441 La Crescenta Ave.

  Mary Okeefe, Susan STEFUN