Photo by Jenny Kirk From left: Sarah Buysse and Emily Buysse look over items at the Dollar Tree recently as they and other SMSU women’s basketball players prepare to fill shoeboxes as part of Operation Christmas Child.

MARSHALL — Shortly after the one-year anniversary of 23-year-old Scott Buysse’s death, a shoebox was being filled in his memory as part of Operation Christmas Child.

The Marshall native’s death hasn’t been easy for friends and family — especially for parents Kristi and Roger and siblings Derek, Sarah and Emily — to handle, but they have found some comfort in sharing his story. It’s another reminder that everyone’s life matters, they said.

“It’s such a bad thing that happened, but so much good has come out of it,” Sarah Buysse said. “It puts things in perspective. My mom believes there’s a plan for this and we do, too. We’ll send his story along in this little box and hopefully it can help another little kid.”

This year marked the 10th time that Southwest Minnesota State University women’s basketball players, under the guidance of “campus mom” Karla Anundson, volunteered to fill shoeboxes for children around the world.

“It’s a great opportunity to give back when we’re so blessed,” Buysse said. “We don’t always realize it all the time. These kids don’t have much, so when we have enough, I think we should do that.”

Both Sarah and Emily are members of the Mustang basketball team. They, along with 11 other players recently went shopping for those shoebox gifts.

“I think it’s good to be able to give this to little kids who don’t have the opportunity to do this,” Emily Buysse said. “We can just go to the stores and get these things ourselves, but they don’t have the resources or anything to do that where they live.”

The student-athletes could choose gifts in the 2-4, 5-9 or 10-14 age group and for either a boy or girl.

“They say to just pray about it,” Anundson said. “There have been miraculous connection as many kids get what they need.”

Before eating a meal prepared by Anundson and heading out to shop, the 13 young women watched a DVD about Operation Christmas Child. A narrator said that there were children all over the world who were feeling forgotten and alone, possibly without a home, without a friend and without hope. As recipients also receive a gospel message, he said the children were getting more than just a gift.

“You’re helping a child find a friend, experience the love of Jesus Christ and discover their own potential,” the narrator said. “That’s what Operation Christmas Child is all about: reaching children of the world with God’s love.”

Another person on the DVD said that each shoebox is different, just like snowflakes, but the one thing that is common with all of the gifts is prayer.

“We ask people to pray,” he said. “Pray for the child who is going to get your box. Can you imagine millions and millions of people praying for the child who is going to get your box? So thank you for your prayers and thank you for your support.”

A boy somewhere in the world is going to see Scott Buysse’s smiling face as the child pulls a little photo of him out of the shoebox.

“People always remember his smile,” Sarah Buysse said. “He’d hand out Frooties at school to help brighten people’s days.”

Emily Buysse said there are now Frooties, a fruit-flavored chewy candy distributed by Tootsie Roll Industries, located in a variety of places.

“They’re around everywhere: at home and around schools, like at Minnesota West, where he went to school,” she said. “They have jars of Frooties and a picture of him.”

Sarah Buysse added that her brother had attended Minnesota West on two area campuses.

“He went to Granite Falls for two years and then went to Canby for two years,” she said. “He was on his fifth year when his accident happened.”

Scott Buysse, who also worked at Wayne’s Tractor Repair in Marshall, was helping with field work at his grandparents’ farm in South Dakota in November 2016. After eating supper on Nov. 10, he drove out of the yard in search of cell service — something which was common for him to do — according to his sisters.

“My uncle snapped me because he lives in Brookings (South Dakota), so he goes back and forth everyday to farm,” Emily Buysse said. “He said, ‘Have you talked to Scott lately?’ and I said, ‘No.’ So I called Jessica, his girlfriend, and asked if she’d talked to him. And she was like, ‘No. He texted me, saying that he was going to the end of the driveway and call me.’ Then he never did.”

The Buysse sisters and their SMSU teammates were in Missouri at a basketball tournament at the time. Sarah Buysse said that law enforcement believes her brother died late that night, but he wasn’t found until 6 o’clock the following morning.

“We think he was just out there getting service because that’s what he does,” she said. “In the middle of South Dakota, you don’t have Internet. He must have just went off the road a little bit and then it looks like he overcorrected.

An aunt, a parole officer, learned about the accident through some law enforcement friends who told her about the “blue pickup with Minnesota plates.” That’s when she knew.

“Our aunt called my mom and my mom called me,” Emily Buysse said. “We were just sitting there around the hotel room.”

News reports revealed that the victim was not wearing his seatbelt and was ejected from the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado he was driving.

“He rolled just once and that was it,” Sarah Buysse said. “And he always wears his seatbelt and this was the one time he didn’t. So my mom thinks there’s this huge plan for this, and that’s why she keeps telling his story.”

The Buysse family formed “Scott’s Impact” to continue their loved one’s legacy and ideally, to help others. On the Facebook page, family members share their belief that God was showing them a sign when they went to the salvage yard. The windshield was intact and the roof was only slightly crinkled, leaving them to wonder how he was ejected from the vehicle.

But that wasn’t all. The young man had always kept a palm branch in his vehicle, and that palm branch was pointing perfectly straight toward the sky as it poked through the very small opening where the windshield and roof came together.

“My mom is really trying to spread his story, his life, his legacy,” Sarah Buysse said. “This is pretty cool because we’ll be putting some keychains, bracelets and a picture in there. We also have T-shirts that say, ‘Scott’s Impact’ and then ‘Be who God meant you to be and you’ll set the world on fire (quote from Saint Catherine of Siena).'”

Though it’s clear they miss their brother dearly, the Buysse sisters faces absolutely light up when they talk about him. While they would have loved being able to spend more of their life with him, they’re thankful for the years they had.

“When Scott was born, he had to have a small bowel and liver transplant,” Sarah Buysse said. “He was in the hospital for two years, waiting for this transplant. My dad says (Scott) never realized the pain he went through because he was a baby, but that he went through so much. But it may have been why Scott was grateful for every day. He’d also pray at every meal.”

Emily Buysse said her brother was the eighth successful person to have that type of transplant.

“There was a little boy who was his roommate named Teag and he had the same thing,” she said. “He was right before Scott and he didn’t make it.”

Though it had been more than 20 years, the two families recently connected again.

“Mom spent two years in the hospital alongside Anita and got to know her,” Sarah Buysse said. “She’d been calling us and was like, ‘You guys have to come out here and see us.’ So we finally went to New York and saw her.”

The Buysses stayed there for a week.

“This was the first time we’d ever met this lady because we weren’t born yet,” Emily Buysse said. “We’d heard stories about these people, but we didn’t actually know who they were until then.”

Sarah Buysse added that her mom thought Teag’s mom was “still the same exact person.”

While out shopping in the Big Apple, Buysse said her mom took the opportunity to reach out to others there.

“My mom bring the keychains, bracelets and stuff everywhere she goes and she hands them out to random people,” Buysse said. “When we traveled to New York this summer, we were shopping at Kate Spade and she was handing them out.”

Emily Buysse said workers there took a bunch and said they’d hand them out to people as well. Then over Scott’s birthday, the New York mom ended up coming to Marshall to visit the Buysses.

“My dad and mom brought them to Pipestone, to the National Monument and to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder houses,” Buysse said. “They also showed them around Marshall. They loved Memorial Park because they actually lived through 9/11.”

The Buysses have vowed to keep Scott’s kindness, thoughtfulness and friendship alive through others, whether it’s by spreading Scott’s legacy, sharing a smile and words of kindness or filling a shoebox full of gifts and love.