Williamsburg resident shares heart wrenching childhood: Shoebox gift gives joy, hope, love

CHESTERFIELD — Kidnapped by her aunt and sold to a brothel at age four, a terrified little girl cried so hard the captors tied her to a tree out front. Thankfully, her wails and tears of fear saved her from what could have been a life of slavery, forced labor or sexual exploitation.

"I thank God a Cambodian Christian couple came by and stopped to find out why I was crying. They were strangers to me, but they were so kind and caring that they bought me and took me back to my mother on the same day," Soklyda "Lyda" Giedd shared during her presentation at Second Branch Baptist Church in Chesterfield on Sunday, September 10.

Giedd, now 33 years old, is from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, a small country in Southeast Asia. Her single mother had to leave her home alone while she worked. She rarely laid eyes on her father who she recalls being a gambler and womanizer. It was his sister who abducted her.

"My father would come and go like lightning and leave my mother pregnant again and again without taking any responsibility," Giedd shared. "At one point my mother was so angry with my dad that she tried to set us both on fire. Fortunately, it was unsuccessful."

Eventually, her father's gambling debts caused Giedd and her pregnant mother to be homeless, hopeless, hungry and loveless. Eventually, she was sent to live with her mom's brother, his wife and their five children.

"I’m grateful to him for taking me into his Christian family. He is a kindhearted man, and he took responsibility for me. He provided for my needs, allowed me to go to school, and took me to church," Giedd said.

Life wasn't perfect for Giedd at her uncle's. She often felt like an outsider and a scapegoat for anything bad that happened. She suffered severe childhood trauma because of the way she was treated physically and emotionally whenever her uncle was not home.

Operation Christmas Child: Shoebox recipient shares experience

Around the age of 12, Giedd went to church for a children's event where she received her very first gift ever, an Operation Christmas Child [OCC] shoebox filled with a variety of items, love and hope.

"I don’t remember ever having a new toy of my own, not even one. All I could play with was mud, leaves, sticks and broken or handed down toys from my cousins," Giedd said. "It brought tears to my eyes as they handed me my very own shoebox, I remember it was wrapped with colorful paper."

At the end of a countdown, the excited children opened their gifts simultaneously. The room filled with joy and laughter.

"As I opened my shoebox, the first thing that stood out to me was the smell of the shoebox which came from an unwrapped bar of soap. Other things I remember receiving were school supplies," Giedd said. "I used to go to school and see other kids having school supplies, but I often only had a short pencil. God knew that I needed school supplies to go to school so he sent me some inside a shoebox which made me feel cared for and special."

Giedd was also gifted hygiene items, a jump rope and two items that stood out to her the most, a coloring book and colored pencils. She was only able to use colored pencils during Sunday school so receiving art supplies was like a treasure to her.

"I often wondered where the shoebox came from and who gave it to me, and when I asked, I was told that it came from people who love God," Giedd said. "I was amazed that someone who did not know me and lived across the world from me cared enough to pack a gift just for me."

A few years after Giedd received her shoebox gift, she gave her life to Christ and got baptized. She had a calling to become involved with the children's ministry. One of its missions was OCC.

"It was incredible being on the other side of the shoebox and witnessing the joy on children’s faces just as I had felt when I received my own shoebox," Giedd said.

Giedd, her husband and six-year-old daughter reside in Williamsburg. She is a preschool teacher assistant as well as a Sunday school teacher for children.

"Every year, our family loves to pack as many shoeboxes as we can, and I never forget to put colored pencils, coloring book and a bar of unwrapped soap on top of other things that we could pack for a child," Giedd said. "I can’t believe that I got to reconnect with Operation Christmas Child this year and have the phenomenal opportunity to become a spokesperson."

Chesterfield: Second Branch Baptist Church

Lindsay Stinson has served as an OCC project leader for three years. She and other Second Branch Baptist Church members have packed shoeboxes for over 10 years.

After Stinson and her husband Matt volunteered at the OCC Shoebox Processing Center in Boone, N.C., she got the bug to become more involved with the mission.

"I saw so many great boxes but just as many not so great boxes. The goal is to have full boxes go out that are filled with quality items," Stinson said. "God laid it on my heart that every box that left Second Branch should be nothing but quality and full."

At one point, due to a lot of factors, Stinson was going to resign from her position to lead others, but then she discovered 100 double packs of scissors for nineteen cents. She saw this as a clear message from God that He wanted her to continue.

"Our church mission statement is 'Changing the world by connecting people with Jesus.' The OCC mission does that, and it happens to be my passion.," Stinson said. "These boxes are a tangible way to show love to someone we have never met. It is more than just a shoebox of toys."

After children receive boxes, they are given the opportunity to continue to learn about Jesus in the 12-week Greatest Journey Program which offers lessons and teachings in their own language. Since 1993, the nonprofit Samaritan’s Purse has delivered over 200 million OCC shoebox gifts to children in need with the help of churches and volunteers.

Last year, Second Branch Baptist sent 500 boxes. The Church picked up the shipping cost of $5000, and this year their goal is to send 360. Participants do not get to select where the boxes will be sent. Last year Second Branch's were shipped to Madagascar, Ghana, South Africa, The Philippines, Burundi, Dominican Republic and Panama. In 2021, they went to Guatemala, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Benin, Ukraine and Haiti.

Stinson and her team choose to use Samaritan's Purse plastic shoeboxes because they are sturdy and store everything nicely. Each one is filled with the following: a full-sized soccer ball which comes with a handheld air pump and two needles, a cinch sack backpack, a hand crank flashlight, a half-sized composition notebook and a school supply kit, a zipper pouch filled with a box of crayons, a notepad, five pencils, two pens, a six-in-one pen, five pencil top erasers, a large eraser, a pencil sharpener, a "Jesus Loves You" bracelet and a small whistle.

Each gift also includes a hygiene kit filled with a washcloth, a bar of soap, a toothbrush, a comb, nail clippers, bandages and a pack of tissues. Shoeboxes are then filled with age appropriate filler such as bouncy balls, small stuffed animals, harmonicas, hairbow kits, finger puppets, fishing kits and Matchbox cars.

"We assemble two age groups: Boys and girls 2 - 4 and 10-14 age groups because they are the groups that get packed the least," Stinson said. "At Second Branch, we say that every box is $30 which includes the shipping donation. We give out OCC envelopes to members. Some sponsor one or more a month or just make a one-time donation."

The suggested shipping donation made by Samaritan's Purse is $10 per box. The modes of transportation once the boxes reach their destination may be four-wheel drive vehicles, sailboats, motorcycles, ox carts, rafts, canoes, donkeys, camels, elephants or by foot.

Samaritan's Purse: 2023 National Collection Week

"During National Collection Week, November 13-20, the shoeboxes will be packaged up, put on a tractor trailer and delivered to one of the eight Processing Centers in the United States. I believe ours go to Baltimore," Stinson said.

Each shoebox is inspected to make sure the contents do not include prohibited items which would cause a delay at the customs clearance check. If there is still room, the inspectors will add filler items. The shoeboxes are separated by gender and age, boxed up and sent down the line to where they will be stored until they are sent to the destination country.

Second Branch Baptist Church also hosts fundraisers to collect donations for shoeboxes. After the service on October 10, Stinson's family prepared a barbecue luncheon with all the fixings.

"My husband Matt and father-in-law Les cooked the barbecue, my mother-in-law Ruth made the beans and the coleslaw and my mom Donna [Spencer] made the mac and cheese," Stinson said. "And my church family is just as important. My cousin Donna Lythgoe runs the kitchen, and her crew always helps us knock it out. It is truly a team effort."

Lythgoe and her mom Cecile Taylor hold a pie bake sale around Thanksgiving for OCC. If people do not want a pie for themselves, they have an option to donate a pie to the Chesterfield Fire Station 19 on Beach Road. According to Stinson, the mother-daughter duo baked about 100 pies in two days.

Second Branch Baptist Church groups also assist with the OCC mission. The Church family including the Young Seniors group, Trail Life USA Troop 1782 and American Heritage Girls Troop 1782 help assemble kits. The Church's sewing group has made dresses for the shoeboxes.

To donate time, money or promotional products such as pens, pencils, stress balls, t-shirts, hats and small stuffed animals for OCC, send an email to info@secondbranch.org. All items must be new.

"Going to Boone to see the next step in the shoebox process is an awesome experience for the kids," American Heritage Girls Troop 1782 leader Evelyn Webb of Chesterfield said. "They are amazed by the volume of shoeboxes."

Ten-year-old Ruby Hart, an American Heritage Girls Troop 1782 member, said, "It feels good to help other kids because they need stuff that we have like school supplies."

“It’s so rewarding to be able to impact children’s lives with simple shoeboxes," Martha Flory of Chesterfield said. "After hearing Lyda Giedd speak about how it impacted her life as a child receiving one, it makes it so much more real to give and know the impact it has on a child’s life."

Read this story at Progress-Index.com for a link to view Giedd's entire 15-minute presentation. Visit samaritanspurse.org to learn more about OCC.

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This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Operation Christmas Child shoebox gift recipient shares experience