Out of a Russian orphanage and giving back

Marlin Levison, Star Tribune

From left, Klava Foreman, Kola Schultz, Ted Foreman and Nadia McEachern were orphans in Russia who found hope every Christmas when they received a shoe box filled with gifts. The teens were adopted by families in the west metro and now are involved in Operation Christmas Child.

Four Twin Cities teens who were once orphans in Russia are thrilled they have the opportunity to help with Operation Christmas Child, sending the shoebox gifts that mattered so much to them.

By AIMÉE BLANCHETTE, Star Tribune

Last update: November 18, 2008 - 6:40 PM

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Four Twin Cities teenagers who were adopted from a Russian orphanage are hoping other orphans find hope in the same place they did -- in a shoe box.

Nadia McEachern, Kola Schultz, and Klava and Ted Foreman, now students in the Twin Cities who attend NorthRidge Fellowship church in Rogers, recently took part in Operation Christmas Child, which sends 8 million shoe box gifts to needy children in more than 100 countries.

Last week, the teens packed shoe boxes with many of the same gifts they recall receiving while at the Porkhov Orphanage in Russia, including dolls, jump ropes, coloring books, candy, toothbrushes and soap.

"I think of something that I liked to get," said Klava, who was adopted along with her brother Ted in 2004 by Doug and Becky Foreman of Maple Lake. "Even the smallest, simplest thing like a teddy bear -- they will treasure it forever."

Ted was 9 when he got a shoe box gift filled with Sponge Bob Square Pants toothpaste (which he ate, mistaking it for candy), a coloring book, a flashlight, stuffed animals and a wash cloth (which he thought was the "cutest little towel.") He hopes the soccer ball, gloves, hat and yo-yo he packed in a shoe box this year give a child the same feeling he had nearly 10 years ago.

"There is actually something more to this world," said Ted, now 18, recalling his thoughts upon opening his shoe box. "Somebody cares ... That was something that was over my head."

In 2003, several families in the Rogers/Dayton/St. Michael area hosted Russian orphans as part of the Journey of Hope program, an international summer camp program that allows orphans ages 5 to 12 to visit and live with American host families for three to four weeks. Families usually participate because they are interested in adopting, and several families in the NorthRidge Fellowship ended up adopting children. The agency that brought the kids here on the Journey of Hope is the European Children Adoption Services in Plymouth.

Ben and Teri McEachern have participated in Operation Christmas Child since their three biological children were little. When they picked up Nadia, whom they adopted in 2004 from Porkhov Orphanage, located in a small town in western Russia, they happened to be there the same day the children received their Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes.

"We saw what a huge deal it is to these kids, who don't have anything of their own, and what a huge impact it made on their lives," said Teri. "Now, instead of just trying to find inexpensive gifts, we really try to find a gift that will make an impact."

Because of the impact the shoe boxes had on Nadia, she said she'll probably continue to send shoe boxes forever. "I know how it feels to get them and how it feels to not get presents at all."

How to help

More than 400,000 shoe boxes are expected to be shipped from the Operation Christmas Child warehouse in Bloomington, one of six regional distribution centers around the country. Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan's Purse, an international relief organization working to aid the world's poor and suffering.

This is national collection week, Nov. 17-24. However, shoe box gifts are collected year-round. Donors can drop off wrapped shoe boxes or new items to put into the boxes at one of 20 processing centers in the Twin Cities. For drop-off locations, visit www. samaritanspurse.org.

Aimée Blanchette • 612-673-1715

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