Time to fill shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child
Published 8:56 pm Monday, November 14, 2016
- John Brunson, Sandra Canterbury, Mike Canterbury, Frances Ingram, Ronnie Jones and Susan Jones pose with Operation Christmas Child show boxes that had been dropped off Monday at the Selma Baptist Association. More than 1,000 boxes were donated Monday.
By Alaina Denean Deshazo | The Selma Times-Journal
Christmas is only a little over a month away, and many children that have never been given a gift before will be receiving a surprise this year.
Operation Christmas Child is underway with around 1,000 shoeboxes being delivered to the Selma Baptist Association Monday during national collection week.
Shoebox donations will be collected all week at the Association in preparation to send the boxes off to children all over the world.
“We are collecting shoeboxes to be sent to over 100 countries,” said Sandra Canterbury, relay coordinator in Selma. “Once the shoeboxes come here, we will pack them in the cartons.”
From the center, the boxes will be sent to the collection center in Linden and will then travel to a processing center in Atlanta. Then the boxes will be sent out to children in countries such as Albania, Haiti, Nigeria and others.
Samaritan’s Purse has been leading the program since 1990, when just a small amount of toys and gifts were given out in Romania.
Now, more than 1 million boxes make their way around the world.
“We’re just excited that these children are getting these boxes,” Canterbury said. “After they get the boxes, a lot of them get to have a program called the ‘Greatest Journey.’ It’s a 12-week discipleship program. Once they graduate from this program, they get a bible in their language.”
Canterbury said she has fun helping out each year, creating the boxes and helping organize them as they come in.
“It is so very exciting. We work hard, but we enjoy it because the children get this box and hey get to learn about the Lord,” she said.
“For a lot of them, this is the first thing they ever get … that’s theirs.”
Last year, 36 churches participated along with schools, organizations and individuals.
Monday is usually their busiest day of the week, Canterbury said, and this year they received even more than usual.
They will continue to accept donations at the Selma Baptist Association, located at 2193 Broad St., on Tuesday from 8 a.m. until noon, Wednesday from 9-11 a.m., Thursday 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Saturday 8-10 a.m. and Sunday from 2-4 p.m.
