Busy High School Students Take Time to Help Bring Hope with Operation Christmas Child

"It is such a good feeling to know that you are helping other kids who aren't as fortunate. Not everyone gets presents at Christmas. That's why this project is so important to me and my friends."

(Columbus, Ohio)—Students at Ohio's Licking Heights High School may be busy with the normal activities of education, but they're not too busy to help make Christmas brighter for other kids around the world, who've been touched by poverty or suffering.

Many of Licking Heights' teens are involved in Operation Christmas Child—the world's largest project of its kind—which delivers wrapped gifts in a shoebox to around eight million children in over 100 countries.

Regina Webster, a 17-year veteran teacher, remarked, "It really gets these teens involved in giving back. I really hope it plants a seed of giving that will continue to grow as they become adults."

This is the second year that students from Licking Heights have helped with the project. Ninth-grader, Kalen Jackson, said, "It is such a good feeling to know that you are helping other kids who aren't as fortunate. Not everyone gets presents at Christmas. That's why this project is so important to me and my friends."