- April 23, 2024
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Johnson Orthodontics serves as the central dropoff location for Flagler’s Operation Christmas Child.
When Dr. Paul Johnson first began collecting gifts for children in third-world countries in 2002 for Operation Christmas Child — an international holiday/evangelism effort from Christian organization Samaritan’s Purse — he collected about 70 boxes.
Eight years later, his office, Johnson Orthodontics, increased that number to more than 1,400. And this year, as the only dropoff center in Flagler, he and his staff hope to reach even more children, ages 2 to 14, in more than 130 countries worldwide.
“It’s a lot of work,” admitted Michél Turner, office receptionist who leads Johnson’s organization effort. But it’s all worth it, she added.
She started accepting donations this year in late September. She shops for gifts, organizes them evenly throughout each box and then wraps and prepares them for shipping.
“You can tell that they’re just so poverty stricken,” she said, pointing to posters featuring children huddled in groups, most shoeless or in ripped clothes. “And we have so much today. It kind of just reminds us of what we have, and what we should be thankful for.”
She said she tries to include something musical and artistic into every box, such as maracas, tambourines or crayons, because these items are universal and bridge language gaps.
She also puts in rainbow lollipops and teeth-care products.
Johnson, who initiated the program through his church, said that last year, when his office collected 1,400 boxes, another relay center opened in Flagler. The year prior, when his was the only one, Johnson Orthodontics sent out more than 1,700 boxes.
“It was a need in the area, and it spreads the gospel of Christ all around the world,” Johnson said. “It’s been a cool project. We’ve really enjoyed it.”
His office also sponsors and ships 100 boxes abroad per year, collecting the rest of its load from its patients, as well as church and nonprofit groups. They also sponsor the “adoption” of shoeboxes, sending all proceeds off with Operation pickup representatives.
Led by Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham, Operation Christmas Child has collected and gifted to children during the holidays more than 86 million present-filled shoe boxes, each including religious literature, since 1993.
Barcodes are also available for shoeboxes, which donators can use to track their packages, down to the village, in their journeys from Flagler to Peru, or Kazakhstan, or Indonesia, or Iraq …
For more, call 445-7671, or visit www.SamaritansPurse.org/occ.
WHERE TO DROP OFF
To donate toys, candy, school supplies, hygiene items or clothes to children in third-world countries, bring items before the end of national collection week on Nov. 21 to Johnson Orthodontics, at 25 Pine Cone Drive.
The office also accepts the “adoption” of gift packages, at $10 per box.
