Ann Peterson, volunteer coordinator the Church Relations Team for Northeast Georgia for Operation Christmas Child (OCC), announced that 10,678 shoeboxes have now been sent so far to the Atlanta Central Drop Off for distribution. The region includes four counties: Habersham, White, Stephens, and Rabun.
These shoeboxes represent a year’s work of various organizations, churches, and individuals in the region. Leading churches for this year include: Bethlehem Baptist Church collected 817 boxes through individuals and Life Groups plus the 2000 boxes packed by Redeemed Ministries; First Baptist Church of Toccoa collected 733 boxes, and Hollywood Baptist Church collected 102 boxes. Truett McConnell University collected 494 boxes and Tallulah Falls School collected 194 boxes.
Peterson explains that collecting the shoeboxes regionally and loading the transport trailers that OCC provides also takes a lot of work. Twenty-one volunteers mostly made up of members of Bethlehem Baptist Church, worked a total of 208 man-hours during the week of November 16-23 to make it all happen.
Last year, the region collected 11,956 shoeboxes. Peterson points out that COVID-19 has impacted the work this year. She says, “A number of churches still aren’t meeting or are only recently started. Of the churches who participated this year, many increased and even surpassed what they were able to do in previous years.”
One example of that is Bethlehem Baptist Church. Bethlehem serves as the regional collection point, but the church is also committed to the ministry of collecting OCC shoeboxes to send. Redeemed Ministries, a local ministry that is sponsored at Bethlehem, actually packed 2,003 shoeboxes this year, while last year the ministry packed 1,500 boxes. Each shoebox contained clothing made by volunteers, hygiene items, and shoes, along with things like tools and screws, and activities.
Redeemed Ministries volunteer Cheryl Thompson has participated in OCC for four years. She has a heart for helping children. When she saw the work that Mary Brown and others in Redeemed Ministries were doing to meet the needs of children through OCC, she saw a need she could fill. Because she can sew, Cheryl spent the first three years making pillowcase dresses and tee-shirt dresses for girls. This year, she spent more time organizing other parts of the ministry. Two years ago, her husband Ray Thompson joined the work. This year, he worked with Deborah Whelchel on making over a thousand pairs of shorts for boys. Ray explains, “With my business experience in engineering in the sewing industry and my ability to use a serger, this was a good fit of using my skills in ministry.”
The majority of the shoeboxes collected in Atlanta will be sent to African countries, the Philippines, and other Pacific islands. OCC has eight distribution centers throughout the United States. Each center has a targeted area for distribution.
Peterson explains, “All boxes have been requested by pastors and mission partners in various countries, and are used as tools for evangelism. Giving out boxes is followed up with a voluntary discipleship twelve-week course, after which participants receive a New Testament in their own language.”
Processing of the shoeboxes begins on Friday, November 27th, and will continue through mid-December. Volunteers to process shoeboxes are needed to work during on the weekdays. Signup to help at samaritanspurse.org. Children must be at least 13 and accompanied by an adult to volunteer. The Atlanta Center is located in Lawrenceville.
Shoeboxes can still be given locally by contacting Ann Peterson or built on-line, and donations for shipping can be made at Samaritan’s Purse. Shipping costs for each shoebox is $9.
Operation Christmas Child is a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian relief, and evangelism organization headed by Franklin Graham. In 2019, more than 8.9 million shoeboxes were collected throughout the United States. Worldwide, over 10.5 million shoeboxes were collected and distributed in over 100 countries. Since 1993, more than 178 million OCC shoeboxes have been distributed in over 160 countries and territories, changing the lives of children one shoebox at a time.
