Tiene Louis expresses similar sentiments. Her three children all received gift-filled shoe boxes from
Samaritan’s Purse in early January.
“I was so happy for the gifts – they made my children so glad,” said Tiene, standing on the front porch
of her earthquake-cracked but still-habitable concrete home. Her children surrounded her – happy to
show a visitor some of the items they discovered inside their Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes: a
calculator, crayons, pencils, pens, notepads, hair brushes, soap, skipping ropes, toy cars and trucks,
etc.
Tiene singled out son Joseph’s new pair of running shoes as the gift that has most impressed her. “He
is so happy with those shoes.” She estimated it would have required 2 ½ days of an average working
Haitian’s wages to buy the shoes – an impossible dream for a single mother struggling to survive.
Shoe box distributions are often the first entry into a community that results in Samaritan’s Purse
identifying other needs – such as safe water, housing, educational resources, and/or improved health
– that can then addressed in partnership with local churches or other organizations. Samaritan’s Purse
is expecting the shoe boxes in Haiti to have a similar impact – helping identify other needs worth
tackling.
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