First responders from the El Dorado Fire Department, ProMed Ambulance and Survival Flight on Wednesday congregated at Immanuel Baptist Church to drop-off more than 100 shoeboxes that will be sent to children in need around the world as part of Operation Christmas Child.
It’s National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child, and churches, nonprofits, businesses, individuals and other groups around the country are rounding up the final shoeboxes that will be sent out ahead of Christmas 2023.
Immanuel Baptist is the central drop-off location for Union County, said Benita Thomason, area coordinator for Operation Christmas Child. Next Monday, all the donations from South Arkansas will be collected and transported to Dallas for distribution.
“What a wonderful day to come together with our first responders,” Operation Christmas Child volunteer Jack Godwin said on Wednesday as firefighters, paramedics and flight nurses unloaded their shoeboxes.
Operation Christmas Child started in 1993, and by 1994, Union County residents were already participating, Thomason said.
“They packed their first boxes in ’94, with 12 boxes,” she said. “They mailed those off, and it’s only grown from there.”
This year, Operation Christmas Child volunteers hope to ship off 36,585 shoeboxes from South Arkansas’s eight drop off locations across 11 counties.
The first response agencies that participated in this year’s shoebox donation drive had a friendly competition over who could fill the most boxes. ProMed won out by bringing 63 boxes, but the EFD was a close second in their first year participating, with 55 boxes donated.
Survival Flight, also participating for the first time this year, brought 11 boxes as well, making a total of 129 boxes donated.
Donnia Williams headed up the donation drive for ProMed, organizing other paramedics and fundraising. She said she’s glad to have an opportunity to give back.
“It’s the selfless act of giving,” she said. “EMS can be stressful, and this gives us a way to do good, kind outreach.”
Janet McMahen, office manager at ProMed, said she hopes the Christmas gifts can serve as a path to the light for their recipients.
“If it can lead a child to salvation, it could lead their families,” she said.
Johnny Stolzfus, a flight nurse for Survival Flight, said it’s nice to be able to give back when someone isn’t having an emergency.
“It’s always a good day when you can help people in need,” he said. “We do that on a daily basis in a medical way, but it’s nice to be able to do it outside of that too.”
WATCH: First responders deliver Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts
EFD Chief Chad Mosby said filling the shoeboxes goes right along with the EFD’s mission to serve.
“We had several folks with the fire department that stepped up to pack boxes,” he said. “It goes along with our mission of being a service organization… It’s an opportunity for us to serve young people around the world and give them a good Christmas.”
Operation Christmas Child provides shoeboxes filled toys, hygiene supplies, clothing, crafts and more to children in need around the world. According to Samaritan’s Purse, which founded the Operation Christmas Child ministry, 10.6 million shoebox gifts were sent to children in 2022.
“A lot of it is small trinkets, but to people who don’t have stuff like that in their lives, it means a lot,” Mosby said.
Kathy Love, community relations coordinator for Operation Christmas Child, said often, children receive gifts that are perfect for them. For example, she said, she’s heard stories of children who prayed for blankets or warm clothes all year and received exactly that in their shoebox gifts.
“I think the really cool things are the stories,” she said. “It’s interesting to see how God puts that together.”
The deadline to donate shoebox gifts for this year’s Operation Christmas Child is next Monday, Nov. 20, at 4 p.m. Donations can be dropped off at Immanuel Baptist Church, 3209 W. Hillsboro.
For more information about Operation Christmas Child, visit samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child.