The gift of giving has come full circle at St. John’s Lutheran Home.

At a time when many are struggling to make ends meet, the least fortunate are giving back.

Every year, the residents of St. John’s Lutheran Home receive a Christmas gift from the volunteers of St. John’s Auxiliary. This year, the staff, volunteers, Auxiliary and Thunder Hockey Team sponsored the residents to pay it forward.

The Albert Lea Thunder Hockey Team arrived en masse to assist residents individually, bringing smiles and laughter along for the ride.

Each resident had the opportunity to pack a shoebox for a needy child of an impoverished country. Residents decided if they wanted to pack a box for a boy or a girl, a toddler or an older child and filled it with toys, candy, personal items, coloring books, crayons and trinkets.

They then addressed a note to the child and added the gift-wrapped box to the growing pile. All together, St. John’s packed 111 shoeboxes this Christmas!

St. John’s wishes to thank: the auxiliary for its financial support; volunteers for wrapping boxes, shopping for supplies and participation; the Albert Lea Thunder Hockey Team for their time, energy and enthusiasm; all staff who donated and encouraged residents to participate; and Crossroads Church and Bob Scrabeck for picking up the donation.

Thanks to Operation Christmas Child, some 8 million suffering children in more than 100 countries on six continents will receive personal, gift-filled shoeboxes through this project. Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has hand-delivered more than 69 million shoe box gifts to needy children around the world. To find out more about how you, your family or your organization can participate go to www.samaritanspurse.org/occ.