A Box Filled With Hope

Imagine never celebrating a birthday. Never receiving a gift. Never hearing that anyone cares about you. That’s what Tanya’s life was like—until she received a special Christmas present.

by Sandy Feit

Have you ever responded to a Christmas appeal that promises to “make a difference in the life of a child”? If you’re like me, you find it a joy to shop for an anonymous boy or girl but secretly wonder what impact, if any, the gift will actually have.

Recently, I met a young woman who answered that question for me. Wearing a bright red “Operation Christmas Child” sweatshirt, 18-year-old Tanya Poteet explained how a shoebox changed her life.

The blond, blue-eyed high school graduate somberly began by describing her childhood in Moscow. Living with an alcoholic mother and abusive stepfather made life arduous and frightening for her and younger sister Christina. When her brother Alexei was born, Tanya, at age 8, was saddled with raising the two younger ones. She recalls how exhausting it was for a young girl to manage such responsibility: “I was just tired; sometimes I’d take beer bottles and go sell them back for 25 kopecks*—whatever we could get.”

Caring for her siblings didn’t leave much time for education, and school administrators reported her excessive absences to officials. Given the option of living at home or in an orphanage, the nine-year-old chose the latter “because it was a place to sleep and get food.”

Yet life there wasn’t easy either. Far from nurturing guardians, the teachers would taunt the children, “Nobody loves you or cares.” Tanya remembers thinking, What am I doing in this life?  She did run away on a couple of occasions because she missed her mother, but there were repercussions—each time she returned, her head was shaved to discourage further escape attempts.   

Then one winter day, the children were brought into the “homework room” and told to sit in a circle. They watched with utter amazement as the principal brought in a mound of giftwrapped shoeboxes and started distributing them. Savoring the experience, each child took out one item and played with it for 15 minutes before reaching in for the next.

For Tanya, receiving a brightly decorated gift in the midst of that colorless existence had far greater value than whatever time and expense went into purchasing it. She loved the presents she received, which included a teddy bear and her very favorite: a tape player. Tragically, both were stolen—she is certain one of the teachers took the tape player home—but this in no way diminished the fact that someone actually bought the gifts for her. The realization was enough to dispel the teachers’ insensitive myth that “nobody cares.”

That simple gift was a turning point. Through the love of a family who filled a shoebox for a child they didn’t know, Tanya became open to learning about the God who knows and loves her. She has since been adopted—by both her heavenly Father (Eph. 1:5) and an American family, who took in Alexei and Christina as well.

Tanya now works with Operation Christmas Child—a project of Samaritan’s Purse. She’s dedicated herself to giving other desperate children the same bright hope she unwrapped that day in the bleak Russian orphanage. Recently, she helped with a Christmas delivery in Ecuador. “It was really [emotional for me], just knowing I once was exactly like them,” she recalls. “It was amazing how happy they looked, just getting simple, simple things. One little boy took out socks. He was running around, saying over and over, ‘Thank you, American! Thank you, American!’—because of socks! Everything matters to those kids. It’s amazing to see their joy about it.”

* One hundred kopecks make a ruble. by 1997 The ruble was worth two hundredths of a cent. By 1993, the kopek had become of such small value that it was obsolete and no longer minted.

You can make a difference.
Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has delivered more than 61 million shoeboxes to 81 countries. Filled with gifts and the Good News of God’s love, the boxes are a simple, hands-on missions project that focuses on the true meaning of Christmas—the gift of Jesus Christ. This year’s goal is to pack 8 million shoeboxes during National Collection Week, November 17-24.

For information on how your family, school, organization, or church can participate, visit www.operationchristmaschild.org or www.samaritanspurse.org