84-Year-Old WWII Purple Heart Recipient Has Special Place in His Heart for Needy Kids

NY Resident Plans to Pack More than 1,000 Shoe Box Gifts This Year to Help Bring Joy to Struggling Children

EAST MARION, N.Y., Oct. 22, 2009—Combining ingenuity and more energy than most people half his age, 84-year-old WWII Purple Heart recipient Reggie Peterson this year plans to pack shoe boxes full of gifts for a staggering 1,000 children in need.

"Doing this project just lifts me up and gives me energy.  I love people, and I have a special place in my heart for kids," said Reggie, who has been participating in Operation Christmas Child for 11 years.  "I was in Germany during World War II and saw a lot of kids with nothing.  It really had an impact on me and made me want to do things to help them."

When Reggie discovered Operation Christmas Child, he knew he had found a great way to make a difference in children's lives.  Through the world’s largest Christmas project, Operation Christmas Child, people across the country pack shoe boxes with toys, school supplies, necessity items and handwritten notes of encouragement.  This year these simple shoe box gifts will be hand-delivered to more than 8 million children around the world who are suffering from natural disaster, war, terrorism, disease, poverty and famine.

But Reggie did not want to pack just one shoe box.  He wanted to pack hundreds - a number that has now grown into thousands.  With the help of his daughter Cathy, Reggie and his family have now packed more than 7,000 shoe box gifts.
 
"When we load up trucks and bring the shoe box gifts to the collection center each November, I just sit there and think, wow, did God really use us to do all of that?  It's just remarkable.  You have to see it to believe it," said Reggie.

Reggie and his daughter work year-round packing shoe boxes.  They comb through sales and search out bargains.  Reggie has a knack for digging up collectable bottles and refurbishes old golf clubs, which he then sells off of his front porch - all proceeds going to Operation Christmas Child.  People also donate money to help Reggie and Cathy fill shoe boxes.

"I was never able to have a child of my own," said Cathy Wood, Reggie's daughter.  "But thanks to this project I don't have just one or two kids - I have more than 7,000."

Operation Christmas Child, a project of international relief and evangelism organization Samaritan's Purse, headed by Franklin Graham, uses whatever means necessary - ships, trucks, buses, trains, airplanes, helicopters, boats, camels, even dog sleds - to reach suffering children.  For many of these children, the shoe box gift will be the first gift they have ever received, letting them know they are loved and not forgotten.

Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has hand-delivered shoe box gifts to more than 69 million hurting children in more than 130 countries.  

For more information on how to participate in Operation Christmas Child, call (828) 262-1980 or visit www.samaritanspurse.org.  National Collection Week is Nov. 16-23, 2009.

• Interview Opportunities:
  
  • Reggie Peterson, 84-year-old Purple Heart recipient from Long Island who is packing more than 1,000 shoe box gifts this year for Operation Christmas Child
  • Cathy Wood, who has helped her father pack more than 7,000 shoe box gifts since first participating in Operation Christmas Child 11 years ago
  • One of the thousands of kids participating in Operation Christmas Child, such as 11-year-old Kassie Miller of Midland, Mich., who single-handedly collected $6,300 for Operation Christmas Child in 2008, enough to fill 209 shoe box gifts 
  • 27-year-old Lejla Allison, who received a shoe box gift while living in poverty in war-torn Bosnia.  Now a married mother of two residing in Williamsburg, Pa., Lejla knows first hand the powerful impact of a simple shoe box gift and is thrilled to now have the opportunity to pack shoe box gifts for other needy kids overseas
  • Operation Christmas Child project coordinators

• Follow a box:  Samaritan's Purse uses tracking technology that allows donors to "follow your box" to the destination country where it will be hand-delivered to a child in need.  Using the EZ Give donation form found at www.samaritanspurse.org, families can register their boxes and find out where in the world their box brought joy to a child.

• Follow Operation Christmas Child via daily updates on Facebook and Twitter.

Some 8 million suffering children in more than 100 countries on six continents will receive personal, gift-filled shoe boxes through this kids-helping-kids project.  Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has hand-delivered more than 69 million shoe box gifts to needy children around the world.

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