Fort Mill churches collecting toys for underprivileged kids worldwide

The collection, shipping and global distribution of millions of gift-filled shoeboxes through Operation Christmas Child takes the hands of half a million volunteers a year – and local church members will be among those helping during the organization’s annual National Collection Week that ends Nov. 23.

OCC, a ministry of the Christian disaster relief organization Samaritan’s Purse, sends boxes filled with small gifts to needy children around the world. Individuals and churches fill empty shoeboxes with small toys, school supplies and toiletries, and boxes are marked by the age and gender of the intended child.

The largest Christmas project of its kind in the world, OCC is expected to collect around 11 million boxes this holiday season. During National Collection Week, Samaritan’s Purse collects boxes at more than 4,000 drop-off sites in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.

For six years, First Baptist Church Fort Mill has served as a local drop-off site, or “relay center,” said FBCFM OCC Relay Center Coordinator Marcia Burch.

“These shoeboxes are going places we will never be able to go, but we can send it in a shoebox,” Burch said. “That gets me excited.”

Nearly 4,000 shoeboxes came through the FBCFM relay center last year, and more than 5,000 the year before, Burch said.

“I don’t care what my numbers are, a shoebox is a shoebox,” Burch said. “Of course, I like them to be high because a shoebox represents a child.”

Morningstar Fellowship Church in Fort Mill will pack around 5,000 shoeboxes this season, Burch said. Church member Mary Adams is helping coordinate the effort this year. Several groups have come by to help with packing the boxes, including an ROTC group and a kindergarten class, Adams said.

“God has been so good to send people,” she said.

More hands are needed, and packing will continue at Morningstar’s temporary on-site center through the end of the month, Adams said.

Morningstar member Pearl Mahan said she comes to help out at the center as much as she can.

“I’m addicted. This is our happy room,” said Mahan, while oohing and ahhing over a baby doll with a “Princess” shirt and a “Baby’s First Christmas” hat. “I get great joy out of it.”

First Baptist, as well as Crossroads Lutheran Church in Indian Land, are now accepting boxes. Burch has led the relay center effort at FBCFM all six years, and began volunteering with OCC a decade before that. Burch said she will continue volunteering with the organization, “as long as God wants me to.”

“My dad used to say, ‘You never retire from ministry, you refire,’” Burch said. “Everybody can do something.”

This story was originally published November 16, 2015 at 10:14 AM with the headline "Fort Mill churches collecting toys for underprivileged kids worldwide."