2109 Shoeboxes Later...

It was the longest week in my recent memories.  Incredibly I feel even more tired than after 4 days of TC. After months of organization, and spending a full week at the Connecting Center waiting for shoeboxes to arrive, we have collected a grand total of 2109 shoeboxes at our Collection Center. We then packed these shoeboxes into 113 shipping boxes and delivered them to our Regional Collection Center at Valley View Alliance Church.

First year as the Local Collection Center for Richmond Hill, what is my reflection? Well, the obvious is that 2109 children will receive gifts for "Christmas" (with all the logistics, the shoeboxes will not actually arrive till March of next year).  The gift of presents and the Gospel for the children, isn't that what Operation Christmas Child is all about?

 

Yes, the main beneficiary of the shoeboxes are the children in the receiving countries. Yet last week I have witness countless beneficiaries in our community. Firstly, it is always a joy as a pastor to see his congregation come together to serve. It took an united effort from the whole church to pull off this project: from organizing the logistics, to manning the Connecting Center during the drop-off hours, and ultimately to packaging the shoeboxes into shipping boxes and delivering the shipment to our Regional Collection Center. 

Thanks to all the brothers and sisters who helped out.

Locally, serving as the Collection Center, our church was able to impact our local community. Sitting in the Connection Center during collection week I was able to interact with churches, organizations and individuals who brought in the 2109 shoeboxes. And the immediate comments were how friendly and welcoming we were as a collection center. 

The biggest joy from the week was a young mother I met a month ago while distributing the empty shoeboxes. She single-handedly put together 50 shoeboxes. Because she had to care for her newborn daughter, Rebecca, so could not deliver her shoeboxes to the Connecting Center.  So we made arrangements to pick up her shoeboxes.  During the visit, I had the opportunity to have a good chat with her and build a rapport. She offered to volunteer and help with the collection next year because she wants to bring up little Rebecca to understand the joys of giving. This year, the shoeboxes from our collection center touched 2109 + 1 little child's life.