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November 28, 2012
An estimated nine million needy children in 130 countries will receive shoeboxes filled with toys, school supplies and hygiene items, and First Baptist Church of Morgan City is doing its part in the Operation Christmas Child international effort.
“Our goal, for the church, was to ship 1,170 boxes, and we actually collected 1,729,” said church relations coordinator Joycelyn Slaton. “We will be getting about another 1,100 from First Baptist of Houma, too. The international goal is to bring the number up from 94 million to 100 million boxes shipped.”
Started in 1993, Operation Christmas Child, headed by Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, is the world’s largest Christmas project of its kind. The project is part of the Samaritan’s Purse organization’s international Christian relief and evangelism mission. The First Baptist of Morgan City has been participating in the event for 10 years and has been a collection center for four years.
“Former church member Becki Green introduced us to the project,” Slaton said. “She and her family brought 120 boxes yesterday, and they are dropping off some more stuff today.”
The project is one of several the church does throughout the year, including sending second-hand Sunday school materials to Third World countries.
The national collection week for the Operation Christmas Child boxes took place Nov. 12-19, and the boxes collected at the church were shipped to Samaritan’s Purse headquarters in Boone, N.C., last Wednesday.
“Many of our boxes go to Madagascar and Central America,” Slaton said. “You can get the postage that lets you track your package, and you can see where it’s going. The last few years, my niece’s boxes have gone to Madagascar.”
Slaton said many of the church’s boxes also go to countries like Bulgaria, Syria, Columbia, Dominican Republic, Indonesia and Macedonia. Those who donated boxes may also register and track their packages at www.samaritanspurse.org/occ.
While the North Carolina center collects boxes year-round, the church collects supplies year-round as well, storing items like small toys, pens, washcloths and rulers for the following Christmas.
“We really need rulers,” Slaton said. “We can never find them at a good price. We shop around for deals at the dollar stores all year long, and we store the items in upstairs rooms at the church and keep track of what we need throughout the year.”
Slaton and fellow church members Barbara Sandras, Flavia Allemand and Nancy Pendas were checking the last delivered boxes, putting a last few boxes together and packing them in shipping cartons marked “Operation Christmas Child.”
“It’s a wonderful way to spread the Gospel to children who may never know about Jesus,” Slaton said. “Sunday School lessons are incorporated when the children open the boxes.”
“I enjoy taking part in the project,” said Sandras, who has been involved in the project for 10 years. “It makes me think about how much my children and grandchildren have. Some kids have nothing.”
Allemand recalled hearing the story of a Russian orphan who had received one of the boxes.
“He and his siblings were adopted by a local family, and he got one of the boxes,” Allemand, who has been packing boxes since 2006, said. “He was so excited to get washcloths in his box because he had to share one washcloth with 10 other children. It touches my heart to see the photos of these kids getting gifts. They don’t have much. It is very rewarding to be able to do this with the church.”
“This is my first year helping out with the packing,” Pendas said. “I feel like we are helping spread God’s word. That is a necessary thing, and we need to do it.”
First Baptist Church of Morgan City church relations coordinator Joycelyn Slaton packs a shoebox for the church’s Operation Christmas Child collection. The church will contribute more than 1,700 boxes to the international effort.
