Meet Evilyn Pinnow. This ambitious little girl has done some pretty big things in her lifetime, and this year her adventure with Operation Christmas Child is taking her all over the country with a very special shoe box gift.
Evilyn and her family are traveling across the United States with the symbolic 100 millionth shoe box packed for Operation Christmas Child since 1993. The project will reach the milestone this week, as shoe box gifts are packed and taken to drop-off sites around the United States during National Collection Week.
As a Shoe Box Ambassador, Evilyn will deliver the box to a little girl in the Dominican Republic.
Evilyn has poured herself into Operation Christmas Child since she was 8 years old, she began a shoe box club where kids meet every month to pack shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child.
“Our motto is kids helping kids around the world,” she said.
There are about 80 children participating in Evilyn’s shoe box club in Wisconsin, and generally they pack about 40-50 shoe boxes every meeting. So far this year they’ve packed 700 boxes in all, and after their latest packing party, they anticipate reaching the 1,000 mark.
The shoe box club relies heavily on local donations so the kids have items to fill the shoe boxes.
“We will go and ask local businesses or people from the church and ask if they have any items they want to give,” Evilyn said. “One man had a huge collection of Beanie Babies that he gave us—over 1,000!”
Evilyn’s favorite item to pack is a jump rope because of the multiple uses you can have for it.
The tour kicked off in Wisconsin and will take Evilyn to many other states where a different item will be given for the 100 millionth shoe box. She said she’s really excited because she’s never been to any of these locations before.
