Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Church Packs Shoeboxes For Children
FARMINGTON — Chantal Bunn and her two sons fill shoeboxes with all kinds of goodies each year for children who may not be able to celebrate Christmas.
Bunn started filling shoeboxes nine years ago when she learned about Operation Christmas Child through her son’s preschool. He was three years-old at the time. Her oldest son is now 12 and her five-year-old son also helps each year.
“We can’t drive past a garage sale without my fiveyear- old asking if we are going to stop and look for the shoebox kids,” Bunn said.
Operation Christmas Child is a program started 20 years ago by Samaritan’s Purse, an international relief organization founded by Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham. According to the Samaritan’s Purse website, 100 million boys and girls in more than 130 countries have received Christmas shoe boxes since 1993. Samaritan’s Purse works with local churches and other partners to deliver the gifts and “share the life-changing Good News of Jesus Christ,” the website says.
At first, Bunn said she and her family filled several boxes each year. They then invited friends to participate and planned packing parties. Everyone would bring items
“It’s an unbelievable ministry. It’s amazing,”
Jamie Webb
Children’s Minister
to put in the shoeboxes.
Bunn’s church, First Baptist on Rheas Mill Road in Farmington, started participating and now Bunn and her family help with the church’s shoeboxes.
This is the third year that First Baptist Church has filled shoeboxes to send out to needy children, said Jamie Webb, children’s minister.
In 2011, church members filled 169 boxes that were sent to children in Madagascar. In 2012, the church filled 300 boxes sent to Mexico and Native American children in North America.
The church’s goal this year is to fill 500 boxes.
“Operation Christmas Child is a way that our children’s ministry is able to share the love of Jesus that we’ve been given with children all over the world,” Webb said. “We’re so thrilled to be a part of the ministry.”
The website, samaritanspurse.org, gives details for anyone interested in filling a shoebox. First Baptist in Farmington will accept filled boxes through Nov. 17. Samaritan’s Purse asks participants to include $7 to pay the shipping for each box.
Bunn said she always includes a spiral notebook, pencils, toothbrush and toothpaste in her boxes. She said she’s learned that in some countries, children have to bring their own school supplies to get an education.
Another time, she heard a girl speak about her gifts. This young girl had been living in an orphanage when she received a shoebox and the toothbrush and toothpaste were her favorite items because everyone on her floor had to share the same toothbrush.
Webb said Samaritan’s Purse places a booklet telling about Jesus’ love in each box in the child’s native language. The children also are partnered with a local church and invited to participate in a 12-week class. At the end of the 12 weeks, children receive a Bible in their language.
Webb said First Baptist will deliver its boxes to a relay center in Fayetteville on Nov. 18 and from there, all the boxes are sent to a distribution center in Dallas. Then, they are shipped all over the world. In some places, Webb said, the boxes are delivered to the hands of a child by way of a camel or elephant.
“It’s an unbelievable ministry. It’s amazing,” Webb said.