CHESTERVILLE, Ohio — Operation Christmas Child of Central Ohio is kicking off its preparation for Collection week from Nov. 15 to 22.
“It’s exciting to see churches, youth groups, community groups and individuals begin filling their boxes with goodies to send to children in many areas of the world that are hard hit by weather, drought conditions and war,” the organization stated in a press release.
One of the churches in this area that is serving as an outstanding example for the rest of us is Chester Baptist, a small church made up of about 20 members near Chesterville. That church has already filled and packed over 1,700 boxes. They are hoping to fill 1700 more by Collection week. For them, Operation Christmas Child is a yearlong mission.
“It’s a vessel to get into the villages with the Gospel and Discipleship,” said Connie Yarborough, Project Leader at the church.
It has been said that every box sent to a child reaches 10 people and impacts the communities and churches in many areas of the world. The focus of the mission is, not only to provide fun and necessities for the children, but to introduce them to Jesus, The Christmas Child.
With the box, each child is given a booklet titled The Greatest Gift and the opportunity to launch into a 12 week Discipleship journey, titled The Greatest Journey.
In 2020, over 9 million shoe boxes were collected worldwide, in spite of the pandemic.
In 2020, the Central Ohio District, made up of the six counties, Ashland, Crawford, Richland, Marion, Morrow, Knox, collected and sent over 17,000 to the Processing Center in Charlotte, North Carolina to be processed and shipped overseas.
Since 1993, over 188 million red and green shoeboxes have been distributed in over 170 countries and territories.
Operation Christmas Child is an arm of Samaritan Purse ministries, led by Franklin Graham. For more information, list of Drop Off sites and/or to get involved, log on to samaritanspurse.org and click on Operation Christmas Child or locally contact Dawn Morton, Central Ohio District Coordinator, via phone 419-560-2468 or email drdawnmorton@gmail.com.
