91-Year-Old Woman Sews for Hurting Kids Overseas

Church Member's Sewing Impacting Hundreds of Children Suffering from Natural Disaster, War and Poverty

DURANGO, Colo., Sept. 24, 2009—For a woman who has seen many changes over the course of her 91 years, a few things have been a constant for Doris Higgins: her talent for sewing and passion for helping those in great need.

A retired seamstress, Higgins works year-round making some 60 dresses and ­­­25 tote bags for Operation Christmas Child.  Higgins is a firm believer in keeping busy with the activities she enjoys the most.  Every fall she donates her hand-sewn dresses and tote bags to be included in some of the gift-filled shoe boxes packed by members of the First United Methodist Church in Durango.  Last year the congregation, along with area-churches, packed some 3,200 shoe boxes with toys, necessity items, school supplies, candy and hand-written notes of encouragement.

"I think about these little girls when I am sewing dresses and how little they have and how much they will enjoy something new," said Higgins who has been a member of the Methodist church for 76 years.  "While I am making them I am praying that they can make a difference in somebody's life."

Operation Christmas Child is a project of the international relief and evangelism organization Samaritan's Purse, headed by Franklin Graham.  The thousands of boxes packed by Higgins and other members of the First United Methodist Church in Durango will contribute to Operation Christmas Child's 2009 goal to collect and deliver some 8 million gift-filled shoe boxes to children in more than 100 countries.

Higgins, who began helping with the project in 2004 by packing her own shoe boxes, heard about a woman in Arkansas who was sewing dresses and including them in her boxes.  She was delighted when the woman agreed to give her the pattern and Higgins immediately began sewing for the project. Higgins is not your typical woman in her nineties. The fabric she uses varies in color and style because she picks it out while at her part-time job - the local Methodist thrift store.

"I just love participating in the project, and now I have gotten other women involved in the project and they are sewing too," said Higgins.

Once the gift-filled shoe boxes leave the First United Methodist Church in Durango they continue to Denver where they join some 600,000 boxes for processing.  After getting inspected the gifts are then hand-delivered to children worldwide who are suffering because of natural disaster, disease, war, terrorism, famine and poverty.

Operation Christmas Child, the world's largest Christmas project, encourages volunteers to fill simple shoe box gifts with toys, necessity items, school supplies, candy and hand-written notes of encouragement.  The gifts are then hand-delivered to children worldwide who are suffering because of natural disaster, disease, war, terrorism, famine and poverty.

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.

For more information on how to participate in Operation Christmas Child, call (800) 353-5949 or visit www.samaritanspurse.org.  National Collection Week is Nov. 16-23, 2009; however, shoe box gifts are collected all year.

-30-