Sep. 14—All it took was a holiday shoebox to change the course of Alyona Eakes' life.

It was a shoe box that came to her through the Samaritan's Purse ministry's Operation Christmas Child.

Each year, volunteers at hundreds of churches including Jonesboro Heights Baptist Church pack the boxes with gifts and toiletries before they are distributed to children around the world.

A shoebox isn't big, but it brings more than gifts to children. It brings hope, something Eakes discovered as a child living in an orphanage in Ukraine.

"It's such a small thing, a tiny little shoebox, and most of the stuff in it, you can go out and get these things," she said.

"To a lot of kids, especially in countries like where I come from, these kids have never had new socks or soap. This (memory) will stick with them and have a huge impact on them."

Eakes, 27, shared her story Saturday with the volunteers who attended a workshop at Jonesboro Baptist Church. She has become one of many Operation Christmas Child recipients who share their stories to let others know how important the boxes are.

"I was living in Ukraine with my mom and dad when I was very young," she said.

She was nine when her father died and a year later, so did her mother. Eakes then went to live with her sister since her ailing grandmother was unable to help.

Tragedy struck again when her sister died from cancer. With nowhere else to go, she wound up in The Ark, a home for children that was operated by two American women.

Eakes got a shoebox the following Christmas, something she still recalls.

"It was a red and green shoebox. And I waited until I was in my room to open it and I remember I was sitting on my bed and I opened the shoebox."

The items inside smelled new — something that was not common in the orphanage.

"I remember the smell of socks that were in there," she said "I remember smelling the green Irish soap (the scent) that will be forever embedded in my brain. I also received a little stuffed white lamb.I had that lamb with me all the time. It was mine. I was the first owner and I was going to be the last owner. I loved it."

Shortly afterward, Eakes was adopted by a single woman she had come to know through mission work. Days after her adoption was official, Ukraine's president signed a law that banned adoption of children by single parents.

Eakes and her adopted mother overcame a language barrier (neither spoke the other's language) and eventually shared the story of the shoebox.

"From that day on, we have packed them every year," Eakes said.

She wants volunteers to know how important each box is.

"In my mind, we have 200 boxes. But what if it was just 199? I might not be standing here to tell my story."

Eakes attended Campbell University. She is an officer in the Wake Forest Police Department.

"This (Operation Christmas Child) is an organization that God uses," she said. "He uses the shoebox as a tool to spread His word. To me, it was God's way to say 'I am here. You can't see me, you can't hear me, but I've still got your back."

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