Before she was 7 years old, Tori Brock had never seen a Barbie doll. So, it was with a happy heart that she unwrapped one from the Christmas gift boxes she received in the orphanage where she was growing up in Kiev, Ukraine.
"That was my very favorite toy," said Tori, now 16, remembering that long-ago gift. "I felt really, really special. All the toys in there really amazed me."
The Raleigh teenager recently shared this memory with the congregation of Emma Anderson Memorial Chapel in Topsail Island, where she is active with the youth group and is helping make gift boxes for the Samaritan's Purse project that expects to send 8 million boxes around the world this holiday season.
The congregation, said Tori's mom, Judy Brock, was "really touched. You give to things like that and you assume it means something to the child, but you never really know."
Now, they do. And that's why Tori overcame her hesitation to speak in public ("I'm not much of a speaker person.") to talk about her experience.
"They were really amazed," Tori said later. "My mom's friend, he cried. … I think it encouraged some people to donate more."
Most of the time, Tori lives in Raleigh, where she is a freshman at Broughton High School, but she spends summers in Topsail. This winter, she is also visiting on weekends to work on the shoebox project as part of the youth group and the Venture Scout Troop at the church.
The young people have been working hard, raising thousands of dollars through a bake sale, shopping, gathering items and labeling and packing them. The boxes, Tori emphasized, include a brochure on Jesus.
As much as she cherished her shoebox in Kiev, Tori's best gift is the family she gained after visiting the U.S. at age 10. The Brock family had met her at the orphanage during a trip to help the children there.
"She came over … and we decided to adopt her," Judy Brock said.
The Brocks' three oldest children were grown, so Tori moved in with parents Judy and Kenan and youngest son Judson, who is now 15. "He was real excited about having a sister," their mom remembered.
Tori's adjustment, which included a couple of years learning English, has been smooth. "She's a great kid and got along real well," Judy Brock said.
"Everybody thinks my English is pretty good," Tori said modestly.
Tori said she doesn't remember much about her life in Kiev, where thousands of children live in the streets, surviving on drugs and prostitution. Churches like Emma Anderson endeavor to bring children into orphanages, where they at least have food and shelter until they are 16, Judy Brock said.
"There are a lot of needy children there," Judy Brock said. "The ones who live in the streets, they live in abandoned cars, in the basements of abandoned homes. They sniff glue … drink vodka and prostitute themselves."
A report by Life2Orphans from February tagged the number of children in orphanages in Ukraine at 125,000. Many of them are not orphans but may have fled from abusive homes or have been left by parents who cannot afford to care for them. Some also suffer ill effects from the nuclear meltdown in Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986.
At the orphanages, children have very few possessions. Tori said most of toys in her shoebox were given to all the children to share. But she did keep the Barbie because "it was my special gift."
"I feel like the kids who will receive the boxes will feel loved," Tori said. "It's a way to share Christ's love."
