One of our favorite things to share with the kids at Bethel is service to others. We do that
through a program of Samaritan’s Purse called Operation Christmas Child (OCC). Franklin
Graham, son of minister Billy Graham, is credited with starting OCC when he was asked to fill
shoeboxes with toys for children living in war-torn Bosnia in 1993. Since then, over 200 million
shoebox gifts have been delivered to children in over 100 countries. Places deep in the jungle,
and high on mountains, volunteers go wherever children need the joy of a gift and the good news
of Jesus through a twelve-lesson study called The Greatest Journey.
Our children in the After School and Summer Program were inspired to get involved with
Operation Christmas Child by a story shared with us by a local family:
“These pictures were sent to us by a missionary in Mexico working with the UWA Indigenous
Community. The children walk two hours up and down a mountain to hear the word of God.
These are the only gifts they’ve ever received in their lives. The little boy is three years old and
was abandoned by his parents. The little girl carrying her small brother up the mountain is
responsible for helping her mother with all her younger siblings. Brother or no brother, she was
determined to get back home with her box.”
The children at Bethel are just getting started and they’ve already made pencil pouches, character
pencils and pack boxes for people who like to shop, but don’t necessarily like to put everything
together.
If you’d like to help the children of Bethel bring joy to other kids, they always need donations to
ship the boxes, it costs $10 each, toys and gifts to put in the boxes and they’d love to teach you
how to pack a box or made a pencil case.
