HOULTON, Maine — Each year Samaritan’s Purse, a Franklin Graham Ministry, delivers good news of great joy to children around the world through their Operation Christmas Child.
As Franklin Graham said, “I want every child to know there is a God who loves them.” Churches around the world participate in this ministry of filling simple shoeboxes with gifts to delight any child.
Last year Samaritan’s Purse collected 8,765,637 gift filled shoeboxes in the US alone. Another 2,447,373 came from other countries. Over 120 countries receive these boxes for their children.
Jennifer Sylvester and Emily Reece co-chaired the project and on Nov. 6, Packing Party Day, 18 parents, grandparents and children packed 115 shoeboxes. “There is something very satisfying about the tangible task of filling a box with goodies to delight a child,” said Sylvester. “Money is always needed for missions around the world but this simple shoebox allows the giver the opportunity to ‘almost’ touch another directly through this effort.”
Last year Sylvester entered a bar code in order to track her box and she received word it went to the Ukraine. After dedicating the boxes during morning worship this week, they will go off to one of the processing centers in MD or NC before being shipped around the world. It is interesting and satisfying work and everyone who is involved wins.
