Over 6, 000 Shoebox Christmas gifts were donated and distributed to six reservations in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota.  On the reservation, up to 70 percent of the children would not get a Christmas gift if not for the Shoebox Christmas Gift program and the generosity of the people that donate to the program.

Photo: Shoebox Christmas gifts at Aberdeen North Highland UMC sorted and ready to bring to Enemy Swim School.  Photo courtesy of Aberdeen North Highland UMC.

Shoebox Christmas is a program that provides Christmas gifts to children in need across the reservation communities and beyond.  In South Dakota the Crow Creek and Pine Ridge reservations and the Enemy Swim School near Sisseton received gifts. In North Dakota, the Spirit Lake Nation, the Turtle Mountain and the Standing Rock reservations received gifts along with three homeless shelters. In Minnesota, the Red Lake Reservation received gifts. Several churches in all three states also received gifts.

How it works

Each fall, churches across the Dakotas Conference collect the wrapped shoeboxes and bring them to designated collection sites.  Mike and Libby Flowers, Co-Directors at Spirit Lake Ministry Center, travel throughout the Dakotas Conference and pick up Shoebox Christmas gifts.

"Approximately 35,000 children live on Native American reservations in the Dakotas," Mike Flowers said. "Those children are mostly the forgotten of our society."

Photo:  Mike and Libby Flowers load gifts donated by churches into the trailer at Fargo First UMC.  Gifts are then distributed to various reservation communities.  Photo courtesy of Mike and Libby Flowers.

"The typical recipient of a Shoebox Christmas gift lives below the poverty line. This year, Pine Ridge, Standing Rock, and Enemy Swim School in South Dakota and Spirit Lake and Turtle Mountain reservations in North Dakota received Shoebox Christmas gifts", Mike Flowers said.

Seven years ago, after working in retail careers, Mike and Libby Flowers answered God's call to ministry at the Children of the Harvest/Spirit Lake Ministry Center in Sheyenne, N.D., and latched onto their predecessor's Shoebox Christmas idea. Now in their seven year there, they have found their niche.

"Building relationships is the best way to minister," Mike said. "Before you can feed someone spiritually, you need to feed (him or her) physically. Our ministry is based on trust and compassion. We live our Christian values, and then, if all else fails, we talk."

Churches create partnerships

Several churches have created direct partnership with a reservation community through Shoebox Christmas.  Aberdeen North Highland UMC in Aberdeen, South Dakota collects Shoebox Christmas gifts each year and delivers them to Enemy Swim Day School in Sisseton, South Dakota.

Photo:  Opening a Shoebox Christmas gift at Spirit Lake.  Photo courtesy of Mike and Libby Flowers.

This is the seventh year that members of the Methodist churches in Rapid City are bringing gifts to the American Horse School on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

One of the volunteers, Shelby Stolz, who helped pack the boxes in Rapid City said, "I love helping out the less fortunate and it gives me great joy that we can bring glory to God and bring Christmas to all these kids that couldn't have it before.”

Another partnership is beginning in Thief River Falls, Minnesota and in northern Minnesota with Leech Lake.  “We had some contact with the United Methodist Church in Thief River Falls a couple of years ago,” noted Mike Flowers.

The partnerships and ministry continue to grow.  “We are so blessed by the gracious and giving hearts of so many.  It is such a joy to spread the love of Jesus,” said Libby Flowers.