Christmas Child

KICKOFF EVENT SHARES HOW TO AID NEEDY

I am really happy to have you and I really want to continue our friendship. Thank you for the gifts and for your picture.

  • Lovaniaina, 15, in a letter dated July 17, 2012

In the fall of 2011, Catherine Mosher of Elkins packed a shoe box with hair ties, a tank top, socks, a letter, a picture of herself, a small coin purse and a necklace made from deer antlers.

This shoe box was one of the millions sent out for Operation Christmas Child. A project of Samaritan’s Purse, it has collected more than 100 million shoe box gifts since 1993 to send to children in need around the world. Samaritan’s Purse is a nondenominational international relief and evangelism organization that works in more than 100 countries to provide aid to victims of war, disease, disaster, poverty, famine and persecution, according to an Operation Christmas Child news release. This shoe box recipient was Lovaniaina of Madagascar, who sent a letter to Mosher in July 2012. Along with thanking her for the gift, Lovaniaina asked Mosher to write back, tell her about her life and send another picture with family members if possible.

Mosher, 57, said she was so excited when she got the letter in the mail.

“I just could not believe it,” she said.

She added that she knows the gifts go out to kids, but it seems more personal when a letter comes back.

“I was just so happy. I was showing everybody,” she said.

Mosher said it was really interesting for her to also receive a picture of Lovaniaina. Mosher researched Madagascar and found out about the area. Along with sending a few gifts, Mosher wrote back last Christmas asking Lovaniaina about lemurs and what she likes to eat. Mosher noted that she never received a letter from her, although it sounded like Lovaniaina wanted to further their correspondence. Mosher doesn’t know ifshe got the address right or not, so she is going to try again this year.

The Fayetteville kickoff event for Operation Christmas Child will be today at Calvary Chapel in Fayetteville, and the kickoff event for Rogers is Sunday at Calvary Chapel in the Ozarks.

Becky Heppner, relay center coordinator at the Fayetteville church, said the events will be for local churches to hear about the program. The theme is “Through the Voices of Children.” Heppner said this theme was chosen as a powerful way to illustrate how meaningful these boxes are, with a video showcasing special music by children and using the voices of children through letters from kids around the world who have received shoe boxes, she said. Those in attendance can learn how to pack a box and look at example boxes.

SENDING SHOE BOXES

Operation Christmas Child started nationally in 1993, and more than 100 million shoe boxes have been collected since its creation, according to an Operation Christmas Child news release. The Calvary Chapel in the Ozarks has taken part in the program since 2005, and the Fayetteville location joined in a few years ago. Bill Holdridge, transitional pastor at the Rogers church, said Operation Christmas Child is a very important part of what the church does each year, one of its two most important mission outreaches. The other big outreach is Harvest Fest Light the Night, which is on Halloween.

The mission of Operation Christmas Child is reaching out to children of developing countries to deliver practical and helpful gifts to brighten their days but also to offer them the good news of Christ,he said. It fits in perfectly with the church’s mission, he added.

“The church is all about what we call the great commission: Furthering the good news of Jesus and sharing his love wherever we can,” Holdridge said.

Another drop-off location for the program is First Baptist Church in Centerton. Bob Metcalf, associate pastor of education and family life at the church, said it is very simple to explain to a local family what to collect and how in turn a shoe box blesses a child in another country.

About 50 percent of the couple hundred Rogers church congregation members participate in the program, Holdridge said. Approximately 80 percent of the 100-member Fayetteville congregation helps out, according to Heppner.

The Northwest Arkansas area collected 14,757 boxes last year, and the goal for 2013 is 16,970, Heppner said.

Types of items packed in shoe boxes include personal hygiene products, toys, school supplies and candy, Heppner said. A person creating a shoe box will pick the age bracket and gender for the shoe box and then fi ll it up. The age ranges are 2 to 4, 5 to 9 and 10 to 14. Heppner said she encourages people to put in a stuffed animal, too, no matter what the age, because some children have never had one before.

Each box can be packed for a small amount of money.

“I can go to the dollar store, and I can make a diff erence in somebody’s life. It’s powerful,” Heppner said.

People also can contribute $7 for the shipping. They can even track each box by registering it on the Operation Christmas Child website.

Mosher has packed shoe boxes for the past three or four years, and she also helps organize and pack boxes ather church, Calvary Chapel in Fayetteville. She said she likes to create boxes for girls in the older age range because many people pick the younger kids.

“No matter how old they are, when they get something like that, that just shows God’s love to them,” she said about the boxes.

Mosher packs many boxes each year, and this year she plans to put together two or three. Mosher said participating in this program “makes you feel really good.” She packs boxes to help make these children happy, show them that someone cares about them and “put a smile on their face.”

Heppner said the Fayetteville church accepts boxesall year, but if givers can wait, she encourages people to bring them to the church during collection week, which is Nov. 18-25. Calvary Chapel Fayetteville is one of the relay centers. The boxes brought into the relay center are then counted, packed into cartons and taken to a collection center in Rogers. From this location, they are driven to one of the three processing centers in Boone, N.C., Atlanta or Dallas, and a copy of the Gospel is added to boxes going to countries where this is allowed, she said. Metcalf said the Centerton church appreciates the program’s goal of getting as many touches of the Gospel in the hands of children as possible. The boxes are thenshipped all over the world.

TRUST AND TESTIMONIES

Heppner’s 10-year-old daughter Maggie helps organize the boxes during the collection week. Heppner noted that her daughter has been helping out with the program since she was 4 years old.

“I like that it helps kids in other countries just get the simple basic needs that we have every day,” Maggie -Kate Heppner said.

Heppner said the children in her church “have so much faith” for the program. There is a packing party for the church’s youth members every year, and they write letters to put in the boxes.

Heppner, who is a stay-athome mom living in Fayetteville, said the program gives her the opportunity to “be a part of what God’s doing all around the world.”

She said it is such a simple program that makes a huge impact around the world. She added that Samaritan’s Purse volunteers believe God has a plan for every single shoe box.

“They just trust that whoever packed it prayed about it, and it’s going to be just the right shoe box.”

Heppner noted she heard a testimony in which a little boy in a warm climate country opened his box to fi nd 10 pairs of gloves. His family had a fishing business, and there were 10 men in the family who needed a pair of gloves.

“He had tears in his eyes.”

Religion, Pages 10 on 10/05/2013

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