The Drop Box: Saving one child at a time

The premise behind Brian Ivie’s “The Drop Box” is at once horrifying and heartwarming. The documentary tells the story of Lee Jong-rak, a pastor who runs a South Korean orphanage that takes in abandoned children. Disturbed by the number of unwanted infants who are simply abandoned by their mothers on the streets of Seoul, Pastor Lee conducts an experiment. He installs a “drop box” at his orphanage, a depository in which mothers can place their babies without fear of discovery or shame, and with the knowledge that their children will be safe and taken care of by the orphanage staff. That the experiment is a success – that the drop box regularly receives deposits – is cause for both concern at the problem of abandoned children and satisfaction that Lee and his orphanage are making a difference.

Part of Focus on the Family’s “The Family Project” documentary series, “The Drop Box” concentrates on Lee’s commitment to the children as a component of his Christian faith, and the film also serves as a call to action for Christians worldwide to do something to solve the problem of abandoned children. The answer, the film says, is not more drop boxes, but a change in the way that we value the lives of babies after they’re born.

On March 3, 4 and 5, “The Drop Box” will be shown in theaters nationwide as part of a limited-engagement screening organized by Fathom Events. Tickets for the screenings are available at www.fathomevents.com.