Picture yourself as a child, maybe 7 years old.
Now imagine you live somewhere where you cannot go to school because there are little to no supplies available, and access to hygiene products is practically nonexistent.
It is hard to have any sort of fun because you don’t have toys or other diversions.
A group of volunteers at Grandview Baptist Church in Centralia on Saturday sought to change this scenario for many children throughout the world. They were there to fill shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child, which will be picked up during National Collection Week from Nov. 15-22.
Shoebox drop-off locations for the collection week are listed online on the Christmas Child website.
This was the third and final packing party for the fall season at Grandview. More than 1,300 shoeboxes have been filled since August, and at the packing event Saturday, around a dozen volunteers filled about another 500.
Central Missouri network wants to fill 20,000 shoeboxes
Grandview is part of a network of churches, businesses, student groups and prayer teams in a 13-county region that participates in Operation Christmas Child, a ministry of the nondenominational evangelical Christian organization Samaritan’s Purse.
It is not just churches and organizations that collect items and pack shoeboxes, said Michelle Hale, Central Missouri area coordinator.
Individuals can get an empty shoebox from Chick-fil-A at 305 N. Stadium Blvd. in Columbia, fill it up and bring it back between 5 to 9 p.m. on Nov. 9 to receive a free chicken sandwich for each filled shoebox.
Anyone with questions can call Hale at 573-291-8118.
The Central Missouri region has a goal of filling at least 20,000 boxes by the time the collection week rolls around in November, Hale said.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the region last year collected at least 18,000 boxes, which was more than in 2019, she said.
“It was only a couple hundred, but it was still an increase,” Hale said, adding more than 9 million shoeboxes were collected worldwide in 2020.
Shoeboxes are collected from the United States, Australia, Austria, Canada, Finland, Germany, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, according to an online fact sheet.
Each shoebox a child receives includes a booklet called “The Greatest Gift,” which includes 11 Bible stories.
“It introduces the child to Jesus and talks about the relationship they can have with Christ,” Hale said. “It is a tangible way to show God’s love to these children, and that is why we do what we do.”
A 15-year history at Grandview Baptist
Grandview has served as a packing location for at least 15 years. Starting out, just a few people would pack boxes and the total number likely was fewer than 50, said Sharlet Finley, Grandview volunteer coordinator.
“I am always in awe of how it all comes together,” she said. “It is a work of God that makes it happen that way.”
A few years ago, Grandview did a church-wide packing event, partially at the encouragement of the pastor, Finley said.
“Our numbers really increased after that,” she said. “Our highest goal was when we had more than 2,000 in 2017. We have broken the 1,000 mark for several years now, for sure.”
Items in a box include school supplies, hygiene items, clothes, toys and a “wow” item. Wow items can include things like soccer balls or a larger stuffed animal.
Many items in a box can be handmade, such as fabric pencil pouches or wooden toys.
“There are people from around the state sewing and knitting,” Finley said. “We have a gentleman that made hats.”
Operation Christmas Child also takes in donated supplies. Food, lotions and war-related toys, such as guns or military figures, are not accepted, among other items.
The scale of the work has become so large at Grandview that the church built a garage specifically for storing Operation Christmas Child supplies.
Seeing the impact of a box’s delivery
As a year-round volunteer, Hale was able to see first-hand in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in 2015 how this ministry impacts the children who receive a box.
She saw children living in poverty where receiving school supplies meant they could go to school.
She was at a distribution of at least 200 boxes. No child took a peek in their box until after there was a short countdown.
“Every single time when they hit one, it was like the Holy Spirit came upon that place and there was so much joy. I have never experienced so much joy in one spot, this side of heaven,” Hale said.
“The joy, hope and the love that come out of those boxes for those kids is overwhelming.”
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