Clarksville, Ark. -- Community service is a core value within the University of the Ozarks Student-Athlete Community, and one particular event, Operation Christmas Child is what brings Student-Athletes together.

For the event, each team collected toys and other items and then packaged them up for the children. U of O Athletics has played a role in making a child's Christmas for the past six years.

"Operation Christmas Child brings so much joy and love to children all around the world," said sophomore soccer player, Camryn Kapics. "It looks like just a shoebox but it is filled with so much more. You feel so much warmth knowing you've brightened a child's day with something so simple." 

This year, the student-athletes packed 51 boxes for the charity. Led by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, the university has provided approximately 400 boxes since 2017.

Operation Christmas Child is managed by Samaritan's Purse, a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. The Operation Christmas Child project involves packing a shoebox full of toys, hygiene kits, clothing and other needed items for impoverished children around the world.

According to its web site, Samaritan's Purse has been in operation since 1970 and has helped meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God's love through His Son, Jesus Christ.

By Hope Hensley