Local Senior Center Works With Operation Christmas Child

Busy hands at the Beam Senior Center in Meade, Kansas have been working since this past Spring making knitted caps for hundreds of Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes. Many skeins of yarn have been donated for this cause which has allowed many ladies at the Senior Center to get more involved with this ministry project. Operation Christmas Child brings the Gospel of Jesus Christ to many children and their families around the world through gift filled shoe boxes.

Marj Ediger, Director of the Beam Senior Center, has been the influence in getting more hands involved in this worthy cause. She has also encouraged several ladies to gift wrap plain shoe boxes that will be packed at the Meade Community Packing Party this Fall. This year the packing party is planning to fill 500 shoe boxes from donations that have been given from local citizens. One volunteer at the Senior Center, Elizabeth Wiens, has personally folded close to 400 pre-decorated shoe boxes for the packing party herself.

Hundreds of wash cloths have been wrapped around bars of soap and packaged in plastic baggies. Hard candy has also been bagged by these diligent workers. Other items that have been made by women of the community include sewn school bags from donated fabric. Lois Reimer and Gladys Reimer are two of those ladies that have been sewing for these shoe boxes for several years. Local volunteers have donated toothpaste, toothbrushes, stuffed animals, pencils and other school supplies, clothing and more that will get packed in a shoe box for a needy child in another part of the world.

If you ever had a desire to be useful at an age where you just might not feel as though you can contribute to a worthwhile cause, please prayerfully consider helping with Operation Christmas Child. We are thankful for the many volunteers of all ages that help in some way to build the number of shoe boxes collected in SW Kansas. Cash donations are also needed for area packing parties to pay for the shipping charges of each shoe box.

Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan’s Purse under the direction of Franklin Graham in Boone, NC. Since 1993, more than 113 million shoe boxes have been delivered to children all over the world. Samaritan’s Purse, international relief and evangelism organization, works in more than 100 countries to provide aid to victims of war, disease, disaster, poverty, famine and persecution.

There are many ways to volunteer and there are many ways to get involved. Contact Area Coordinator, Debbie Rempel at 620-873-2000 for more information. She can direct you to an area close to you that can use your volunteer efforts. Want to know more about this organization and how to pack a shoe box? Go to www.samaritanspurse.org and click on the Operation Christmas Child link.

You can take your own gift filled shoe box to the First Christian Church in Dodge City or to one of the many Relay Centers in SW Kansas during National Collection Week, November 17-24, 2014. Visit the website and click on “Drop-Off Locations” to get that information for your area.

ANOTHER OPPORTUNITYTO PARTICIPATE

There will be a ShoeBox Shuffle 5K/2 mile fun run/walk Saturday, November 8 at Celebration Baptist Church in Ulysses, Ks. The church is located at 831 N. College St. and registration starts at 8:00 a.m. The run/walk begins at 9:00 a.m.

The entry fee for individuals is 1 packed shoebox & $15. The family fee is 2 packed shoeboxes & $35.

All individual runners will receive a stocking hat and families will receive 3 hats. Additional hats may be purchased for $6.

Registration forms are available at www.occshoeboxshuffle.blogspot.com.

For more information, contact Karen Leibbrandt at (620) 253-2285 or email kaleibbrandt@hotmail.com