Another successful Operation Christmas Child shoe box campaign for High River and area this year.

Local organizer Jim Graham says when the boxes were all gathered and readied for shipment to Calgary volunteers had reason to be tired.

"Our number is likely about 985 in total that went from the high River which at least a hundred more than we've done in previous years," Graham says. "I think it was a really good year, we did better than we had aimed for."

He says some people actually wait until just after Christmas to buy small items that go on sale and pack them up for next year campaign.

Boxes from the local area are headed to Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Venezuela and Haiti with some headed to the Ukraine.