Dec 26, 2003 By Frances Borsodi Zajac 3 min read

Local officials for Operation Christmas Child report the campaign collected a total of 10,475 shoe boxes filled with gifts for children this holiday season. Susan Jennings, collection site coordinator, recently issued a report, noting, “It seems this year, more than any of the others, that more of the church community came together to work on one common project. It is amazing to look back to see how many children and families we have all helped: 2000, 2,961 shoe boxes; 2001, 6,070 shoe boxes; 2002, 10,462 shoe boxes; 2003, 10,475 shoe boxes. That’s 29,968 total shoe boxes processed in the past four years.’

Operation Christmas Child, the world’s largest children’s Christmas project, is a program operated by Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian international relief organization headed by Franklin Graham, son of legendary evangelist Billy Graham.

Operation Christmas Child has hand-delivered more than 24 million gift-filled shoe boxes to needy children in some 120 countries – including the United States – on six continents since 1993. The shoe boxes are given to children who are suffering from war, terrorism, disease, natural disaster and famine. Many of the children have never received a Christmas present before.

Jennings wrote in her report: “As the Bobbie Mason song says, ‘each one, reach one.’ This is exactly what happens with Operation Christmas Child’s Love in a Shoe Box project. One box at a time, one child at a time. Each gift-filled shoebox reaches a child, somewhere in the world, in a desperate situation. Just as each shoe box preparer is unique and special, so is the child who received their box.’

Jennings noted that nine churches in southwestern Pennsylvania opened their doors Nov. 17-24 to receive gift-filled shoe boxes.

The dropoffs included Amity United Methodist Church, Clinton Church of God of Normalville, World Christian Outreach Ministries of Connellsville, Everson Evangelical, Great Bethel Baptist Church of Uniontown, Myersdale United Methodist Church, New Life Covenant Church of Markleysburg, First Baptist Church of Point Marion and Christ United Methodist Church of Rockwood. Collectively, 10,475 were dropped off to these sites.

“This year was very exciting because not only did we see a lot of familiar faces,’ wrote Jennings, “but we saw many new faces.

“This year, 212 churches, 113 individuals, eight Scout troops, 17 groups/organizations and 21 schools were the participants in the project.’

She continued, “At the Great Bethel site, we asked area churches to choose a day and to provide six to eight volunteers to work at the site. What a blessing it was to see so many hard-working volunteers come from so many different churches for one cause. The groups that chose a day included the youth group from Uniontown Church of the Brethren, Fayette County Christian Homeschoolers, Brownfield United Methodist Church, Third Presbyterian Church, Wharton Furnace Union Church, Tyrone Presbyterian Church, TWIGS youth group from Olive Branch Baptist Church, Abundant Life, the Bruderhof and Great Bethel Baptist Church. Four businesses also donated their services to the cause: Parks Moving and Storage, Becker’s Shadyside Restaurant, Hibbs Awning Co. and Miller Greenhouses.’

The local totals were broken into five relays. They were: Uniontown Relay contributed 5,291, including Great Bethel, 4,509; First Baptist of Point Marion, 100; New Life Covenant of Markleysburg, 146; and St. Therese Roman Catholic Church, 536.

The Everson Relay collected 1,758, including Everson Evangelical, 742; World Christian Outreach of Connellsville, 636; and Clinton Church of God in Normalville, 380. The Amity Relay contributed 1,488 while the Meyersdale Relay brought in 1,054 and the Rockwood Relay collected 884.

Jennings noted, “We hope to keep on reaching one child at a time next year. It’s never too early to start thinking about what we can do.’

For more information on how to get started, contact Jennings at 724-437-0815.