27 Nov Still More Shoeboxes!

Every year, dozens of UB churches participate in Operation Christmas Child, a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse. Several thousand shoeboxes are sent by UB churches to children around the world. We invited churches to tell us how many shoeboxes they collected. We have posted results here and here. We still invite you to tell us how many boxes your church filled.

Praise Point Church (Willshire, Ohio)
Number of Shoeboxes: 261

Melina Agler (right), church secretary, writes: “Praise Point has been preparing shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child since the church opened its doors in 2006. Each year the boxes are placed at the front of the church on the last Sunday they are received, and a time is set aside to have special prayer for those that will receive these gifts. This year the children of the church gathered with the pastor at the front of the sanctuary for prayer, each child taking a box to hold during the prayer. The junior church children (ages 3-5th grade) also prepared 20 boxes to add to the boxes received from the congergation.

“Gene and Lana Wolfe have been chairing this project for several years. They begin collecting shoeboxes and small items as soon as the last year’s boxes have shipped. Several of our church family have also gone to North Carolina to help pack boxes for shipping, and will be going again this year.”

Mill Chapel (Reedsville, W. Va.)
Number of Shoeboxes: 73

Pastor Marshall Woods (right) writes, “We simply put out the challenge to be involved in outreach. We also are working to provide for some families that are going through difficult times.”

Blue Rock UB Church (Waynesboro, Pa.)
Number of Shoeboxes: 77

Rosie Baer of Blue Rock says the number was down from last year, “but we still praise the Lord for the response.”

Hillsdale UB (Hillsdale, Mich.)
Number of Shoeboxes: 115

Quiggle Rick of Hillsdale UB writes, “We’ve been giving out shoeboxes and information since the beginning of October at a table at the back of the Worship Center. We use the videos Samaritan’s Purse provides to show during offering, in addition to doing announcements & slides. We also have several teachers who will take the party packs and do boxes with their children. This year we will also have two people making the trip to North Carolina to help get the boxes ready to ship. We’re so excited!”

Mt. Olivet UB (Mt. Solon, Va.)
Number of Shoeboxes: 15

Fonda Cassidy (right), a layperson from Mt. Olivet, writes: “Our WMF ladies collect for Samaritan’s Purse. Some pack them together with family and or friends. It is so exciting to take them to the place where they are being packed into tractor trailers and readied to go to the distribution center in North Carolina. Thousands of shoeboxes, knowing that you had helped, even in a small way is just so wonderful!”

Salem UB (Chambersburg, Pa.)
Number of Shoeboxes: About 85

Arthur Page (right), pastor of Salem UB, writes: “We encouraged one shoebox per church family. Our youth guy, Slugg, aka Daryl, did a children’s moment during Sunday morning service with the kids to show them how to pack a box and to encourage them to coerce their parents into letting them do one as a family project. Also our youth group went to the local Samaritan’s Purse packing center where they had a great time volunteering with people from other local churches!”

Salem Chapel (Junction City, Ohio)
Number of Shoeboxes: 168

Pastor Joe Leighton writes: “In addition, we are sending a team of 6 adults to Boone, NC, to help pack and ship Christmas boxes. We have been sending a team of adults to Boone for the past 7 years. Two of the past 4 years we have sent a second team of teenagers from the youth group. One of our adult team members, Bill Morgan, was selected to go to Honduras this past February to help distribute the shoebox gifts to some of the rural villages.”

How About Your Church?
How many Christmas Child shoeboxes did your church collect this year? We’d like to share that on UBCentral for other churches. We even have a form you can use to report what your church did with Operation Christmas Child.