All those shoeboxes your churches and organizations have filled for Operation Christmas Child are stacking up at Bible Fellowship Church in Bridgeport.

 

Monday – an estimated nearly 12,000 – will be shipped from the area distribution center to a processing center in Boone, NC. Ultimately, the boxes, filled to the brim with toys, school supplies, personal care items and novelties, will be delivered to children in need around the world. Sponsored by Samaritan’s Purse, the program seems to touch more people every year, said the organization’s Jody Shrock.

 

“There’s always ministry on both sides of the box,” she said. “We’ve had groups in here with a lot of prayer going on.”

 

This past week, Shrock has overseen efforts at the church’s on-site “store,” where groups – from schools, organizations and churches – have come on site and assembled shoeboxes.

 

Among those groups was the Harrison County 4-H.

 

“This is the second time we’ve taken part,” said Beth Fraser Skidmore, assistant program director. “The 4-H pledge is four-fold – the development of head, hands, heart and health so we are always looking for hands-on service projects the kids can do themselves. This was a good opportunity. Last year, we had 22 participate and this year we had 30.”

 

The 4-H’ers were assigned a block of time on Wednesday, Skidmore said. The first children to arrive were given instruction and they, in turn, showed the others the process upon their arrival.

 

“They would get a box, go to the school supply table and pick out things, then toothpaste, candy, stuffed animals,” Skidmore said. “If they were filling a box for a boy, they would pick out boy things and if a girl, they would pick out girl things like hair bows, necklaces and all sorts of things.”

 

Throughout the year, those items are collected and donated for the late-November packing party.

 

 

The goal is to fill 2,500 boxes, which will be added to those sent by individuals, churches and other groups from Harrison, Taylor and Lewis counties. The number to exceed is 11,755, the number of boxes sent from the distribution center last year, Schrock said.

 

Many area churches – All Saints Catholic Church, Simpson Creek Baptist, First Baptist Church of Nutter Fort, Evangel Baptist, Oak Mound, Middleville Baptist, Clarksburg Baptist and Ten Mile Baptist, to name a very few – headed up their own OCC projects and brought dozens - in some cases, hundreds – of filled boxes, designated for boys and girls of certain ages.

 

Deborah Morris said her own family filled 100 boxes with items, such as bouncy balls, stuffed animals, marbles, school supplies and coloring books, which they had collected through the year.

 

All family members took part in the project, even her grandmother and her friends at Meadowview Manor Health Care Center.

 

“This is our Christmas,” Morris said. “We know it’s a month early, but we just love giving back from what we have. We know we have way more than we should ever need.”

 

Morris traveled with Operation Christmas Child to the Philippines last year and experienced the ministry “on the other side of the box.”

 

“I saw the joy that these kids get when they receive a box,” she said.

 

Some of the children who receive the boxes have never received any kind of gift before. Some even find handwritten notes and photos in their boxes.

 

Skidmore said her 4-H kids included notes in the boxes which they packed.

 

“They’re hoping maybe they will get a letter back,” she said. “We did last year and it was really cool to read them.”

 

See photos of some of the above-mentioned groups in action with Operation Christmas Child 2014 at the gallery below. 

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Operation Christmas Child 2014