Hope in a Shoebox: Vestavia family continues relationship with shoebox recipient from Kosovo

Early this year, the Henson family will travel from their home in Vestavia Hills to Orlando, where they, along with thousands of other families, will experience Walt Disney World.

But they aren’t just going to meet Mickey Mouse or to ride roller coasters. They’re going to visit their friend from Kosovo, Gresa Sahatciu, who 20 years ago received a life-changing gift from the Hensons.

Around Christmas 1999, Sahatciu, 11 years old at the time, and her family had just returned to their home country of Kosovo after fleeing to Albania to escape the horrors of war. But when they came back, everything was destroyed, Sahatciu said.

Sahatciu’s school was still standing, at least half of it, she said. One day, a group of people came to deliver gifts to the children. They were lined up in the gym where shoeboxes decorated in Christmas colors were handed out.

“I had never received a gift before,” Sahatciu said. “I just remember holding it.”

Sahatciu waited to open her gift at home with the rest of her family. The first thing she saw was a picture of three young girls: Heather, Holli and Hope, along with their city: Birmingham, Alabama.

Besides the picture, a pair of plain white socks stood out, Sahatciu said, because she had never before received a pair of socks.

“My parents really didn’t have much,” Sahatciu said.

The small gift, given through the Operation Christmas Child project of Samaritan’s Purse Ministries, changed Sahatciu’s outlook on life.

“Now I understand what I felt then,” Sahatciu said. “Somebody was actually thinking about me. … There’s people like this who made a difference in the world, and that’s what I want to do.”

Kim Henson said in 1998, she and her family packed the shoebox, just like they had done so many times before. It would take a year before that box made it to Kosovo.

The Hensons always gave their children money to shop at Dollar Tree to fill shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. “We mailed it off, just like every box we’d always done,” Henson said. “We knew that as parents we want to teach our children there are people out there who have need, and that they [their children] are blessed beyond measure.”

In late 2018, Henson was dropping off a bike at Shades Mountain Baptist Church, where she and her family are members. A church receptionist told her she had received a message at the church, which Henson said was odd because she isn’t on staff at the church.

When she was told she just had to listen to the message, Henson put the recording on speaker and pressed play. “Hi there, my name is Gresa Sahatciu,” Sahatciu said in the recording. “I have kind of a strange question. About 18 years ago … I received an Operation Christmas Child box with a beautiful picture of three little girls, Holli, Heather and Hope, and I live in the United States now, and I’ve been searching for your family. I found all three of your names on this church website, and I was wondering if there’s a way to connect with the Henson family. I just wanted to say thank you and share the picture I still have.”

Henson, recognizing no one else at the church had three girls by that name, told her husband, Jordy, and later they called Sahatciu for the first time, and quickly began crying as they realized the impact their one small act of kindness had on someone thousands of miles away.

The call came during tough moments in both Sahatciu’s life and in Kim Henson’s life. Henson’s father was in the hospital at the time. Sahatciu, who was chosen to come to the U.S. through the visa lottery in 2006, had had a rough day working at Disney World, where she began as a luggage greeter.

Anytime Sahatciu had a hard day, she came home and searched the names of the three Henson girls along with “Birmingham, Alabama,” but wouldn’t find anything. Finally, in late 2018, she found their names mentioned in another story about the family on the church’s website.

“I immediately started crying [when the Hensons called],” Sahatciu said. “I feel like we became family and connected.”

“Those socks gave her hope,” Henson said. “It made her realize there are people in this country that are not evil.”

Thirteen years after moving to the United States and, along with her father, starting a career at Disney, Sahatciu is now a resort manager at the park. She spent much of her time in late 2019 preparing a new resort for its grand opening. In all of her years moving up in the company, she never forgot about the family that gave her hope in 1999, though she said it seemed impossible they would ever meet.

But, after connecting through a phone call, that’s exactly what happened. In April 2019, the Hensons flew Sahatciu to Vestavia Hills and spent time with her. Sahatciu spent time shopping and visiting Vulcan, as well as sharing her story with Shades Mountain Baptist Church, on the “Rick and Bubba” radio show and other outlets. The family also gave her a Bible and spent time reading it with her, Sahatciu said.

“It was very encouraging, especially for my girls,” Henson said. “It’s just being the hands and feet of Jesus. Whatever you are doing, you can always serve and help someone else.”

Sahatciu said her trip to Birmingham was amazing and unbelievable.

“They treated me like family,” Sahatciu said. “I felt like I’ve known her [Henson] all of my life.

“I’m part of the family now.”

The Hensons’ story motivated others at the church to pack even more shoeboxes, which provide gifts and basic necessities to children in poorer countries.

The family and Sahatciu still talk, and Henson said her family won’t ever forget the impact packing a shoebox can have.

“It just made us understand that those little things we do, all those shoeboxes we’ve done over the years, have made some sort of impact,” Henson said. “We may never hear from those people we packed a shoebox for, but we know it works from Gresa, and I pray they work for other people in giving them that hope.”

Sahatciu said the shoebox made her a better person, helped her not take things for granted and inspired her to give back to others.

“I feel like what I’ve been through … it inspires others,” Sahatciu said. “It was the best thing I’ve ever received in my entire life.”