Spreading love and cheer from Whitecourt all the way to Costa Rica and Romania

Seeing a child react to a gift with a wide-eyed expression of joy is one of life’s greatest pleasures. For local resident Chad Merrifield and his family, the experience was both amplified and worlds away. The group just returned from Costa Rica where they spent a week delivering shoes on behalf of TOMS Shoes and Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts on behalf of Samaritan’s Purse.

Merrifield said witnessing children and adults receiving the gifts was life changing. “When the kids came to get the shoeboxes, they didn’t actually know they were getting one. They had to close their eyes when they were handing them out because nobody knew what they were getting. Then they all opened them at once. A lot of them just started squealing and some of them opened it quick, peeked, and then closed it again because they couldn’t believe that it was for them. We were showing them that it was really theirs. It was a shock for them because they don’t normally get gifts,” explained Merrifield.

First connected through his church, Whitecourt Baptist, the opportunity to head to another country and take part in something so special has been a plan for several years. “We’ve been involved with Operation Christmas Child locally and our family is part of our church group that has been packing the shoeboxes and buying supplies. My daughter always wanted to deliver them, so we said that once our kids were old enough that we would take the opportunity and go. We applied about a year and a half ago to be a part of this team.”

The group of 29 they travelled with featured families from Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia. Once on the ground in Costa Rica they were linked up with a local organization called Moviendo Esperanza which means “moving hope” in Spanish. The non-profit helps hand out the gifts to local communities.

Although the children loved the gifts inside their boxes, Merrifield said one of the most prized possessions was something you wouldn’t necessarily expect. “The most important thing to them were the boxes that included a picture of the families that built the box for them. It was amazing because they not only appreciated what was in the box but also who had sent it to them.”

If box builders included their email address, then they might just receive a picture back. “If we saw a box with a letter and an address on it, we would actually snap pictures of the child and the address and as we go through, now that we are back home, we can actually send those pictures to the people built the boxes.”

Merrifield said his children are still working through the process of what they experienced. “I know my older son was changed to the point where he still keeps bringing up something else that he has discovered from the experience saying we don’t really need something and that we can do without it. It has changed his perspective on materialism, and he said we need to go on more purposeful trips like this.”

One of the poorest communities they visited in Costa Rica had an average monthly income of $35 US. “They were playing soccer barefoot on rough ground and were happy as can be to have someone there to play with them. I think that was incredible for our kids to witness being completely happy in your own situation no matter what you have.”

Giving away TOMS shoes proved to be just as special. “It was excitement, but it was bigger than that especially for some of the ladies in the group. A lot of them have jobs where they get the uniform, but the footwear is something they must have. Their shoes didn’t fit or were broken, and they were just so grateful that this was assisting them and their families,” he explained.

One particularly touching moment came when an older gentleman, about 60, came up to receive a pair of shoes. “We asked him what size shoes he wore, and he said 55. Well, that’s a huge size and is about a 16 or 17 and we didn’t have shoes that big, but it turned out that he was a size 42 which is about an 11. The reason he thought he was a 55 was because that’s the size his boots were but he never actually had a pair that fit before.”

While there the group handed out 600 boxes and about 550 pairs of shoes. Family groups that are sent from Canada go to Costa Rica because it is one of the safer places that Samaritan’s Purse delivers boxes to. “We had a 75-year-old couple with us. The wife works 40 hours per week as a cashier to fund the 1,000 boxes she and her husband make every year. All her wages are spent making boxes for Samaritan’s Purse. While we were in Costa Rica, the couple gave their 20,000th shoebox to a little girl. It was amazing to share this experience with them,” said Merrifield.

In just a couple of months, the Merrifield family will be back on a plane again except this time they will be heading to Romania where they will stay for two and a half weeks, from March 28 to April 13. They will be working with two local organizations, Roots in Romania and Camp Falcon Rock, to help with construction of a children’s camp. The group they are travelling with is made up of mainly Whitecourt people including children from Hilltop High, Percy Baxter, and Central School.

“After communism, there are two generations of leadership development over there that didn’t get done so that is a big struggle for them. It’s pretty near to my heart because anytime you can enact change and empower them to succeed on their own is huge in my mind.”

They will be bringing hockey sticks and street hockey equipment with them after Whitecourt residents graciously donated them in 2018 after Merrifield’s first trip to the area. With quite a few Albertan helpers in Romania, there is a hockey connection growing. “The one missionary pastor over there is about 30 and he grew up in Spruce Grove and all he has on his television is SportsNet and the Oilers Network. He gets the youth together all the time and they watch Oilers games and they follow the Oilers pretty tight. For the most part, these kids don’t even see snow much less hockey sticks, but they are all Edmonton Oilers fans,” chuckled Merrifield.

They are looking to bring some Oilers jerseys and hats for the youth so any Whitecourt residents who are interested in helping make that happen are asked to contact Whitecourt Baptist. “We are living in a blessed society. What you get in knowledge, understanding, and appreciation from visiting these types of places is so much bigger than anything you can provide for them, I think. It is life changing.”