Students contribute to estimated 9.8 million shoebox gifts
MacKenzie McGraw
Hundreds of volunteers pause to pray over the boxes.
Many students who attend Southside Church participated in a project called Operation Christmas Child, put on by Samaritan’s Purse, in which they filled shoe-boxes with toys, school supplies, hygiene items and accessories for boys and girls ages 2-4, 5-9 or 10-14.
Freshman Anne Bennett participated in the initial filling of the shoe-boxes at Southside Church. Of the program, she said, “You don’t need a reason to help people.”
During the National Collection Week from November 18 to November 25, Samaritan’s Purse collected the shoe-boxes from the more than 3,500 drop-off sites, such as Southside Church, all over the United States.
After collection, the shoe-boxes are shipped to eight major processing centers across the United States: Atlanta, Georgia; Boone, North Carolina; Charlotte, North Carolina; Dallas, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Honolulu, Hawaii; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Orange County, California.
I volunteered at the Atlanta Processing Center on November 30 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. where I saw first-hand the work that went in to prepare more than one million estimated shoe-boxes that will go through the Atlanta Processing Center for delivery overseas. Around a table of seven or more people, we each were assigned jobs similar to an assembly line and worked to process boxes and pack them to be sent.
The first job was to open the shoe-box, take out the $7 donation to cover shipping costs and make sure that the gender and age of the child was filled out correctly on the label.
The box was then passed to a second person who inspected the box for inappropriate items such as war-related items, chocolate or food, liquids or lotions and breakable items.
Next, the box was passed to someone who filled it with additional items if the box was not packed enough or appropriately.
After the next person taped the box, it was passed to a group of people who ensured the box was placed into the correct box based on gender and age. After being filled with approximately 14 or more shoe-boxes, it was then taped and sent to the back of the warehouse until it could be picked up and sent to its final destination.
Junior Ian McGraw, who volunteered at the Atlanta Processing Center said, “I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It was great helping out the organization and helping its cause.”
The organization’s purpose, according to their fact sheet, is to use “gift-filled shoe-boxes to demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way to needy children around the world.” Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has been responsible for the collection and delivery of more than 100 million shoe-boxes. Additionally, “Operation Christmas Child expects to collect another 9.8 million shoebox gifts in 2013.”
Over 20 McIntosh students helped contribute to Operation Christmas Child’s goal of 9.8 million shoe-boxes world-wide by contributing to their local drop-off site at Southside Church.
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