Anne Purcell is part of Redeemed Ministries based at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Clarkesville. The women in the ministry have prepared around 1,000 boxes this year for Operation Christmas Child. (Daniel Purcell/Now Habersham)
It’s a project that started months ago in churches and homes across Northeast Georgia: It ended Monday night with a double trailer truck bound for Atlanta.
Volunteers spent a week loading the trailers with nearly 10,000 shoeboxes filled with gifts for Operation Christmas Child (OCC).
Around 10 p.m. on November 25, truck driver Shaji Matthew arrived at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Clarkesville to pick up the trailers. Matthew worked late that night to make the special holiday haul.
“I enjoy helping people,” he told Now Habersham. “I’m blessed by doing this.”
Four counties and 15.5 tons of shoebox gifts
Bethlehem Baptist was OCC’s central drop-off point for four counties this year. Volunteers from Habersham, Rabun, Stephens, and White counties contributed. Carley Abner was the drop-off leader. He coordinated teams of volunteers to receive the shoeboxes from churches and individuals and pack them into shipping boxes for transport.
“We had a great time,” Abner said.
Abner was at Bethlehem Baptist Church Monday night to go over the truck manifest with Matthew. One trailer contained 18,000 pounds of cargo, the other 13,000 pounds. Each shoebox in that 15.5 tons of cargo contains toys and practical gifts such as clothes, grooming items, and school supplies.
Abner says they exceeded their goal by 2,000 shoeboxes. When asked how he felt about how things went this year he said, “Fantastic!”
Matthew drove the shoebox gifts to Lawrenceville. From there, they were to be taken to the OCC processing center in Atlanta to be sorted and shipped.
“I pray the Lord will use them”
Volunteers with Redeemed Ministries in Clarkesville made the trek to Atlanta on Tuesday to help at the processing center. They contributed approximately 1,000 of the 10,000 packed shoeboxes donated locally.
The non-denominational evangelical Christian organization Samaritan’s Purse runs Operation Christmas Child. The organization says it hopes to collect enough shoebox gifts this year to reach 11 million children in countries like Peru, the Philippines, Rwanda, and Ukraine.
“It’s one of the few ministries that I know of that you can give something and a hundred percent goes to where it’s intended, so, it’s a great thing,” said Abner. He added, “I pray that the Lord will use them [the shoebox gifts] in a wonderful way.”
