Several 18-wheelers packed with tons of soccer balls, T-shirts, pencils, crayons, soap, COVID-19 masks and other goodies headed out of Aiken County a few days ago, amid the annual show of support for Operation Christmas Child – "the shoebox ministry," as it is often known.
Data from one year earlier for Aiken, Edgefield, Bamberg, Barnwell and Allendale counties, combined, included 20,752 boxes to be shipped overseas – or at least abroad – as gifts for kids in impoverished countries.
Cedar Creek, Millbrook Baptist and TrueNorth churches in Aiken and North Augusta remained as major collection sites this year.
A program advocate for the Aiken-Augusta area said the worldwide targets for 2020 – "God-sized goals," as he described them – include 9.2 million boxes from the United States and 11 million worldwide. Dozens of congregations around the Aiken-Augusta area are major supporters of the annual outreach, through which each child receiving a gift box is invited to take part in a 12-week discipleship program titled "The Greatest Journey," with emphasis on the basics of the Christian faith.
Heather Long, director of children's ministry at St. John's United Methodist Church, confirmed that this year's process included some surprises.
"There were people that had made handmade masks to put in the boxes this year," she said, referring to masks for pandemic precautions.
St. John's, like many congregations, normally has a "packing party," with dozens of volunteers helping put boxes together and prepare them for shipment, but that was not an option for some churches this year, due to COVID-19 concerns.
Long's congregation wound up gathering 272 boxes, "which is great, considering COVID," she added, citing soap, washcloths, crayons, soccer balls and stuffed animals as being among the most common items selected for giving.
Some churches have members or boosters who make Operation Christmas Child an all-year priority. Jennifer Bannecke helps guide the program at First Baptist Church of North Augusta, and helped load a truck with 1,934 boxes Nov. 16.
"That is great. That is fabulous," she said. "I mean, especially with the pandemic, there's a lot of churches that are still not meeting and ... did not get to pack. We did fabulous."
Sandy Engelberg, a project leader with Langley First Baptist Church, said his congregation has been on board with Operation Christmas Child for "15, maybe 16 years," and started by preparing two boxes a year – one for a boy and one for a girl.
A First Baptist member, Jan Klingler, took on the program as a personal priority and helped foster its growth. She died in 2016, at age 82, but the church's involvement has continued to grow, to the point of providing 1,934 boxes this year; Klingler's husband, Ken Klingler, is helping continue the tradition, having provided 12 boxes personally this year.
"The Lord's just done amazing things. It's a church-wide thing," said Engelberg, noting the contributions of Beverly Rushton and Jane Wilson, both of whom picked up supplies this month even while on separate vacations at the same time in Myrtle Beach. He also pointed out on Nov. 21 that the Langley box count was 1,033, with hopes for at least few more in the following day.
Vickie Smith helped lead a collection effort through the 25 members of American Heritage Girls Troop SC0250, based at Town Creek Baptist Church.
"I felt like people were more generous with their donations than in years past," Smith said. "We had people from three different states that shipped items here, for free, and gave them to us ... and then we had people at the church donate items. People in the community just left them on one of the leader's porch," said Smith, the troop's coordinator, who led the project with help from Kimberly Toole, the troop's vice-coordinator.
The "three states" reference, she explained, was in connection with "wooden cars and trucks from Colorado, handmade dresses from Iowa, and Barbie clothes from Texas." Local dentists also got on board, she added.
The Town Creek troop's final haul included 175 shoeboxes that were processed in 36 minutes at a troop meeting held Nov. 5, establishing a total of 216 boxes for the year.
"It was just such an unusual year, with the COVID and all," said Engelberg, with Langley First Baptist. "Nobody expected to see this kind of results, and it's just amazing."
The annual outreach dates back to the early 1990s and is run by Samaritan’s Purse, based in Boone, North Carolina, and described on its website as "a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world."
