Lake Forest residents Darlene and Steven Block got to see the meaning of Christmas firsthand.

Darlene, who started working with Operation Christmas Child five years ago – assembling one shoe box – now is the area coordinator for 14 counties.

In December 2002, the couple traveled to Kampala, Uganda, where they, along with the in-country coordinators, assisted with the delivery of about 80,000 Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes filled with gifts.

The program, run by Samaritan’s Purse, an international relief organization headed by the Rev. Franklin Graham, son of famed evangelist Billy Graham, delivered a total of about 6.6 million shoe boxes to children in 95 countries.

One stop, at the Mengo Hospital Day Camp in Kampala, is fixed in Darlene’s mind. There, children who are suffering from HIV or AIDS, or those whose lives have been affected by it, gathered under a gazebo in the hot sun, while the parents or grandparents sat patiently behind the children.

The little girls, even the sick ones, got out of their seats to bow to the guests, as is their custom.

“We’d pick them up by their arms and place them back in their chairs, telling them they didn’t need to bow to us,” said Darlene. “These kids were sick.”

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