Good Things Come in (Many) Small Packages

She might be all of 12 years old, but Veronica Pomeroy is proving herself to be a seasoned goodwill ambassador.

The Chaminade Middle School student was selected last year to represent a Christian charity on a trip to Mexico, after collecting 435 shoe boxes full of gifts for needy children.

And this year, she will travel Dec. 8 to hurricane-ravaged Nicaragua, taking with her nearly 1,400 of the filled shoe boxes from local churches, schools, scout troops, friends and neighbors.

“Veronica is only a representative of the thousands of families across the United States and four other countries that are participating in Operation Christmas Child,” said Veronica’s mother, Robin Pomeroy.

“The objective is to get as many shoe boxes out to these unfortunate children in countries all over the world who would not otherwise know the joy of Christmas,” she said.

The charity--Samaritan’s Purse, of Boone, N.C.--distributes packages filled with toys, clothes, toothbrushes, crayons, baby blankets and other items to give to children in need.

The group has already delivered more than 2 million shoe boxes full of gifts to needy children around the world.

Veronica learned of the shoe box project three years ago in a Christian magazine she received as gift from her grandmother. She then proposed the idea to her fifth-grade teacher at Bay Laurel Elementary School in Calabasas, which started the effort and has continued the project since her move to middle school.

“She has seen these children firsthand, and the poverty in which they live,” her mother said. “And that makes her even more resolute to make certain these children receive at least one present at Christmastime.”