By Jennifer Stultz
Tri-County Tribune Editor
jstultz@cherryroad.com
Church members, school groups, and civic organizations all around the country are busy buying for and packing together Christmas Shoeboxes for the annual Samaritans Purse Operation Christmas Child project at this time of year. Last Sunday, an inter-generational group gathered at Abundant Harvest Church of the Nazarene to put together more than 25 complete boxes with items donated from church members.
“We do this because it is one way to reach others for Christ in a way we could not do alone,” said organizer Michelle Popovich. “For each child that gets a shoebox with these gifts, seven more people are connected to a pathway of learning about Jesus Christ.”
Volunteers placed items like toothbrushes, school supplies, socks, sunglasses, wash clothes, toy cars, dolls, jump ropes, shoes, soccer balls (deflated with inflation needle attached), and stuffed animals into regular shoe size boxes that provided by the Samaritans Purse organization. All extra plastics and packaging material had to be removed from the items first, because in the countries where the boxes would be traveling, there were not readily available trash cans for the wrappings.
Children created special cards to go into each box as a way of connecting with someone around the world, making the gifting a more personal experience. Tracking cards were filled out and provided for each box so that those who donated items and helped pack the boxes could find out where they actually ended up by Christmas.
School students at Pratt High School have been collecting donations for the boxes from the community and will be packing boxes this week for the Christmas project.
Popovich said that all Christmas shoe boxes packed in the Pratt County area are to be taken to the First Southern Baptist Church in Pratt by 11 a.m. on Monday, November 25. From there they will be taken to the next regional collection point, Dodge City, and from there trucked and flown around the world.
“We just started taking in boxes this Monday, and it was slow because of the rain, but by the end of Tuesday we already had 417 complete boxes,” said Shelly Patterson at the First Southern Baptist Church.
Patterson said packed Christmas shoe boxes will be accepted all week at 1710 Maple Street, Pratt, with collection hours from 9-11 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, 5-7 p.m. on Sunday, and then 9-11 a.m. next Monday.
More information about the project can be found online at samaritanspurse.org/occ or locally, on the First Southern Baptist Church of Pratt’s Facebook page.
According to Samaritan’s Purse, the gospel of Jesus Christ is presented with the distribution of each box and recipients have the opportunity to choose a follow up discipleship program called The Greatest Journey. Children go home to tell their parents and families what they have learned, and all learn more about following Christ and sharing His good news with others.
