Every year, families from all around the world gather to celebrate Christmas by giving gifts to their loved ones.
For children who are not as fortunate, Operation Christmas Child is a program that gives those children the opportunity to receive a gift during the holiday season. This is an annual program overseen by the Samaritan’s Purse, in which various donations are packaged to be shipped out to children all over the globe.
At Northwestern State University of Louisiana, student organizations like the Baptist Collegiate Ministry and the Theta Chi Fraternity Eta Omicron chapter volunteer to help the First Baptist Church in Natchitoches complete this mission.
During the third week of November, which is known as “National Collection Week,” churches, schools, organizations and communities collect new or lightly used donations to pack shoe boxes with items such as toys, toiletries, school supplies and more. Shoebox packers choose whether their box will be for a girl or a boy and what age category their box will be for. Then, they package the box according to the age and gender they selected.
The different age categories for the boxes can range from 2-4 years, 5-9 years and 10-14 years, according to Brenda Ingram, logistics and collection center coordinator for West Central Louisiana’s Operation Christmas Child.
Part of the operation’s fuel supply is the hard work of volunteers at First Baptist Church, the BCM and other surrounding communities.
“At the BCM, the family group leaders are able to kind of lead the packing of boxes, but anyone who is a member of the BCM helps out in some way,” Karly Stansell, informational cluster leader of BCM, said. “Whether it’s donating supplies, donating money, helping to pack a box or just praying for the boxes and donations, it’s easy and fun to participate in. Who doesn’t love picking out stuffed animals and coloring books for kids who would need and love them?”
While the BCM helped with packing and donating items for boxes, NSU’s Theta Chi Fraternity helped the FBC move the boxes into the delivery truck.
“My favorite part was the teamwork involved,” Connor Benoit, Theta Chi secretary-elect, said. “We usually had six guys, and we would have two guys pick up the boxes, then they would take it to the two guys in the middle, and they would take it to the two guys at the end who would fit the boxes in the shipping container. Everyone just gave it their all, gave it their best.”
Benoit added that having the opportunity to give back to the community with his fraternity brothers was a chance for them to showcase their bond, and doing it through Operation Christmas Child added special meaning to their service.
Each volunteer has a different motivation for helping out, but it all comes down to the impact their hours of packaging meaningful and useful items have on each child.
“We’re all there for one reason,” Josie Fowler, vice president and women’s ministry leader of BCM, explained. “This may be some of the few items the child ever has. They also may receive these boxes one time in their life. It’s our job to make it count. The best part about packing boxes is being able to selflessly gather items and pray for this child you will probably never meet. You probably won’t ever know them or what circumstances they are in, but you can still make an impact.”
Many people involved in this operation do so with the hopes of spreading the Word of Christ. Fowler feels that if more people knew the meaning behind what they’re doing, they’d be inclined to join in. Everyone has the power to make a difference in someone’s life; taking a few minutes to wrap a gift for someone can make their Christmas a bit merrier.
