Most churches and organizations that participate in the annual Operation Christmas Child program are more than pleased to accept 200-500 boxes from their congregations.

 

But how about 400 boxes from one individual?

 

Adair Friedman, 16 of Becker has amassed enough product through donations to fit in 400 shoeboxes for OCC.

 

“It’s an amazing program and it’s just a little something I can do for kids who don’t have anything,” said Adair.

 

This, coming from a teenager who has 10 brothers and sisters.

 

Her oldest brother, Nick, 25, has been so impressed with his sister’s generous heart, he just had to let people know what she is up to each year at this time.

 

“Last year, my little sister used the help of her family to send out 37 shoeboxes and she impressed us all,” Nick said. “But she was bound and determined this year to package over 10 times that many boxes.”

 

And she has done that plus more. 

 

Adair and her family have participated in OCC for many years and before that, her mom and dad, Chris and Steve, had been packaging up one box for a boy and one box for a girl.

 

And as soon as the young ones started participating, the collections for the boxes just started growing and growing.

 

“This year, I just thought it would be a good idea to visit some local businesses (dental shops, restaurants, hotels, etc.) and see if they had small items they could donate to fit in our shoe boxes,” said Adair. “I just explained the program and what we planned to do and every one of the places I went to had something to give.”

 

The businesses gave out boxes of toothbrushes, soaps, chapstick, school supplies, hygiene items, clothes, blankets and toys. Adair and her siblings documented all the items donated, figured out how many would fit in the boxes and determined it will take at least 400 shoeboxes to fit everything.

 

“I inventoried everything and it looks like we have around 7,500 items,” she said.

 

Many of the Friedman kids also utilized their own God-given talents in knitting hats, sewing cloth bags and making little crosses out of popsicle sticks and perler beads.

 

They also went through their cache of candy from Halloween and donated all the hard candy items (no chocolate) to fill a office supply box to the top.

 

The Friedmans are part of the congregation at Oakwood Church in Becker and their tight-knit family strives to be good examples of their Christian faith. Mom, Chris, says the kids all get along very well and she beams with pride when she sees any of her children excel in what they love to do. All her kids have been home-schooled and several have been part of high school athletics and many have talents in music and instrumentation.

 

Dad, Steve, works in the cities and has been responsible for rustling up enough shoeboxes for the OCC program.

 

Nick, the eldest, donated money out of his own pocket for the cause to help pay the $7 a box shipping fees. Isaiah, 19, who is doing missionary work in Sweden, bought a bunch of school supplies and also gave money to his sister to help with the costs.

 

“My brother Ted — a big, burly, super-tough guy — even helped us out by going to his dentist and asking for toothpaste and brushes,” said Chris.

 

Adair and her siblings usually start planning for OCC on Black Friday — for the next year of the event. They set out on the biggest shopping day of the year and look for incredible bargains and stockpile the items for the next year.

 

Chris says Adair’s biggest dream is to volunteer to go to one of the dropoff sites overseas and hand-deliver the boxes to the kids right from the truck.

 

“That would be amazing just to see their expressions and their smiles,” she said.

 

“We always knew she (Adair) had a strong personality and she is showing it through this amazing gesture of kindness,” said big brother Nick.

 

The Friedmans consist of mom and dad (Chris and Steve), Nick (25), Tanna (23), Teddy (21), Isaiah (19), Parker (18), Adair (16), Kerry (14), Noah, (13), Rainna (11), Alyssa (10) and Johnny (6).

 

The family plans to start stuffing the boxes on Nov. 15 either at their home in Becker or at their home church. They are still looking for donations such as gift items, shoeboxes and even cash to help pay for the shipping costs. 

 

Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has delivered gift-filled shoeboxes to more than 124 million children in more than 150 countries and territories.

 

Oakwood Church is a local distribution drop-off site and is located at 13140 1st Street (next to Becker Furniture World). Contact Oakwood Church for more information.