When Yuri Lopez was 6 years old, a helicopter carrying an item that would eventually change her life flew over the orphanage she called home in Honduras.
Lopez, now 28, told a crowd of about 15 people at the First United Methodist Church on Sunday that she and her four siblings (including a twin sister) were given up to an orphanage at an early age.
By the time she was 16, Lopez said she had gone through 14 different orphanages, most of which had no electricity or water, and very little food to go around to feed the hundreds of children.
But on this particular day, a helicopter carrying shoe boxes full of gifts from the Samaritan’s Purse program Operation Christmas Child brought Lopez pencils, a toothbrush, a backpack, crayons and a coloring book, among other items.
Samaritan’s Purse is an evangelical Christian organization, whose president is Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham. The program provides aid in the name of missionary work. In each shoe box, too, is some form of religious text.
Years later, Lopez recalled the most significant item in the box was a note that said, “Jesus loves you, and I love you too.”
Lopez said that kicked off a string of events in her life that sent her down a path of missionary work. In 2005, she joined the “Eternal Family Project,” a ministry for orphaned females. In 2008, she entered college on a soccer scholarship to Bryan College in Tennessee.
Now, Lopez, who was adopted by an American family and lives in Atlanta, works for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
“They didn’t know me (the family that sent the shoe box), but they took the time to pack this shoe box,” she said.
Sally Rowland, the area coordinator for Operation Christmas Child for the Four Corners, said an estimated 11 million shoe boxes have been sent to children in impoverished areas around the world, including orphanages, refugee camps and regions of poverty.
About 5,000 of those have come from the efforts of people in the Four Corners, Rowland said. She hopes to get that number up to 6,000 this year.
“This is a way for us to give tangible gifts to kids,” she said, “and a way to be a missionary without leaving Durango.”
Operation Christmas Child’s National Collection week is Nov. 13-20. For more information about how to donate, visit samaritanspurse.org/occ.
jromeo@durangoherald.com
