By: KC Nañola

Four years ago when we first came to Canada, I was excited to go for Halloween’s trick-or-treating. I was so confused on what was I going to be. In school all the kids were talking about it and were bragging about what they wanted to be. In Bahrain, where I was born, we did not celebrate Halloween in the same way as the Canadians, mainly because of religion. However, Bahrain is a cosmopolitan country and an occasion like this is not really restricted. Although, not patronized by the locals, many hotels would have special functions for events like this. My mom would take my sister and I to some posh hotels and along with some family friends, we would go for trick-or-treating in the hotel. It wasn’t as fun as trick-or-treating in Toronto but all the same, we were in our choice of costumes.

Ever since we came to Toronto, my sister and I would go trick-or-treating. Every year as well, we are hosting a costume party at our place. We would invite our close friends and just party the night away. Our friend’s would come in wacky, cute, or scary Halloween costumes. The party’s were always a blast. On the first Halloween party we hosted, we had a piñata. Yes, a piñata. They used MY umbrella to try and break the piñata open. I tried but I didn’t succeed. So I just stood there getting ready to run and grabbed the candy. I remember someone broke my umbrella while trying to break the piñata open. They shall still pay for what they have done! Ha-ha, just kidding. But, it was a nice umbrella…

This year, I’m still not sure what I’m going to go as. Though, my mom says I’m too old to go trick-or-treating. But, who can get to old to get free candy from other people? Oh well, my mom suggested that we do something different this year and she offered to pay for the party expense on one condition: if we could get our friends to collect gifts for a noble cause: “OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD”.

The Operation Christmas Child is a project by Samaritan's Purse. The basic idea is that we take an old shoe box, fill it up with gifts for a child of a specific age and gender and, along with a small fee of $7, donate it, so that it can be given to a needy child for Christmas.

We used to ask our friends to help pitch in a little whenever we called for a get-together at our place, but this time we asked our friend’s kindly donation to be given to a good cause –and not for our stomachs.

I know, am also feeling totally broke but I suppose we can share a shoe box with someone else. The more the better- more unfortunate children are happy.

So, to give you an idea on how the shoe-box works, here it is:

1. A SHOE BOX. The shoe box (or a plastic box if you'd like) must be no larger than 14" x 8.5". You can wrap the box (lid separately), but it is not required. But I daresay it would look a lot better wrapped.
2. BOY OR GIRL? Determine whether your gift will be a boy or a girl, and what age category he/she would be in (2-4, 5-9, or 10-14). When you get here we can provide you with the appropriate label to mark it.
3. GIFTS. The gifts you include in the box should be appropriate for whatever age and gender category you have chosen. Please read below for gift guidelines.
4. DONATION. A donation of $7 or more for EACH shoe box you prepare to help cover project costs (such as shipping, etc). This should be handed-over along with your shoe-box.
5. Please note the GIFT GUIDELINES:

ACCEPTABLE GIFTS:

• School supplies (pens, pencils, paper, solar calculators, colouring and picture books, etc.)
• Toys (small cars, balls, dolls, stuffed animals, etc.)
• Hygiene items (toothbrush, comb, washcloth, etc.)
• Other (T-shirts, socks, ball caps, sunglasses, hair clips, toy jewellery, watches, etc.)
• You may also include, in a separate envelope, a note to the child and a photo of yourself or your family.
  

DO NOT INCLUDE:

• Toothpaste
• Liquids or items that leak, melt, or freeze (shampoo, gels, paint, glue, etc.)
• Food
• Used Items
• Breakable Items (glass, porcelain, mirrors, etc.)
• Items that can harm or scare a child (knives, war-related toys, toy guns, etc.

I daresay, it shouldn't be all that hard for us to do - the dollar store would be an excellent choice to pick nice (and cheap) gifts from. It also says "no USED items", but I think they mean clothing, broken toys or such. If you have toys that look like new, or stuff that someone gave you and you never really used, or hate completely and simply left to lie in a corner of your closet, use that.

Let us combined our friendship and worked together for this cause. Every child deserves a little something for Christmas. Let's celebrate the spirit of giving a little earlier. In fact it should be everyday. Anyway, surely it wouldn't cost you over $15 to fill up a shoe box with small gifts (including the $7 minimum donation).

So, after my first Halloween experience, I would always look forward to next year, the scares it will bring and the number of shoes boxes that we could collect.

For more info on the Shoe-box, please visit http://www.samaritanspurse.ca/occ/

See you next time!

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About the writer: KC Nanola is a  grade 7 student of St. Lawrence School and is also in a gifted class program at St. Catherine School. She was our featured “Young Achiever” for August edition