The Box of Love will be arriving to Ayaviri
Ayaviri, 12/06/13 (Sodalite News – Peru). From the 15th to the 20th of December the parish of Our Lady of Reconciliation will provide the social service initiative known as “Box of Love” to the town of Ayaviri. The idea is to carry the joy of Christmas to families in need to one of the most distant places of the Southern High Andes of Peru, which is just under 4,000 meters (about 13,123 feet) above sea level.
Ayaviri finds itself continuously hit by low temperatures and intense climate conditions throughout the year. The poor are the ones that encounter the greatest difficulties to survive and, most especially, to maintain hope and joy during this part of the year. As a response to this difficult reality the parish of Our Lady of Reconciliation has decided to take the Box of Love to families most in need of Ayaviri.
The “Box of Love” invites families who are equipped with the necessary resources to donate a box of rations to another family living in poverty. It is a gift from family to family. Over the years the service has been able to act as a bridge where the joy and the Christ-centered spirit of Christmas is communicate to those in need. The 2011 campaign which served more than 1000 families from Lima is a great example. Each box contains food for a week and a Christmas dinner. This year the campaign will be extended to many families from Ayaviri.
Fr. Juan Carlos Rivva, pastor of Our Lady of Reconciliation, invites every family to participate and “to be generous and to share with our impoverished brothers and sisters of Ayaviri so that we can move forward with this project, Box of Love.” José David Correa, superior of the community of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae in Ayaviri, finds himself very involved in this labor and tells us that on this occasion the Box of Love will include a laying hen instead of a turkey, which will be offer a great deal of help to the locals. Moreover, Correa hopes for the “generous help of all of you and the cooperation in sharing the information with your family, friends and acquaintances.”
The Box of Love is a solidarity project of the Sodalit Family that is also present in other Latin American countries like Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, and Costa Rica. It’s a Christmas campaign that seeks to unite generous families with families who do not have the means to celebrate the birth of the Child Jesus. It is a gift from family to family stored in a box. This gift contains basic foods for the family and gifts for the kids. Each family that benefits from the campaign is censured previously in order get to know the members and their ages.