Wauconda High students pack shoeboxes for needy children
Wauconda High School's FBLA chapter took 32 seniors up to Minnesota last weekend to volunteer for Operation Christmas Child.
Operation Christmas Child is an organization that ships donated shoe boxes around the world to children less fortunate. The shoe boxes include toiletry items, school supplies, some clothing items, and toys. The age groups range from 2-4, 5-9, and 10-14.
Wendy Mills, the chapter adviser, has been taking the seniors of the successful FBLA chapter on this trip since 2010.
This trip is different from most FBLA trips, as they usually consist of business conferences or competitions. However, this trip is all volunteering.
The group of 35 people left Friday, Dec. 4, and arrived at the processing center around 3 p.m. and worked until 7 p.m. The processing center is in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Once the group arrived, they unloaded the 200 boxes they brought to donate. Another local FBLA chapter from Mundelein High School donated 100 boxes and sent them with the Wauconda FBLA group to bring to the processing center. The group soon went to training and began volunteering.
The processing center is a huge warehouse with more than 500 volunteers representing seven states from various church groups or volunteer organizations to help pack and inspect shoe boxes. The group split up and the big defensive linemen from the football team were immediately chosen to stack and move large cardboard boxes with a minimum of 15 shoe boxes stuffed inside. The cardboard boxes weighed about 100 pounds.
The rest of the group and chaperones were on three stations inspecting, taping, and packing the shoe boxes into the larger cardboard boxes. The group volunteered Friday and Saturday.
On Saturday, by the time their shift was over at 1 p.m., a pastor from the organization announced they had helped pack 11,000 boxes.
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