BY CHRIS FORTUNE
Members of Cornerstone Eudora packed toys, school supplies and personal care items into shoeboxes last week during its first year as a drop-off location for Operation Christmas Child.
Operation Christmas Child was started by Samaritan’s Purse in 1993 as a way to give to children in need around the world. Children from over 150 countries have received shoeboxes full of Christmas gifts from the initiative.
Cornerstone Eudora received donations from several other churches in Eudora, including a large donation from Eudora Baptist Church. The church surpassed its own shoebox donation goal of 800 this year with a total of 1,037 boxes. Eudora donated a total of 1,375 boxes.
“We aren’t a very big congregation, so we try to look for opportunities where we can have the most impact with our smaller group of people,” the Rev. Shannon Watterson of Cornerstone Eudora said.
Watterson reached out to Samaritan’s Purse about packing boxes to donate and a representative told him they didn’t have a drop-off location at his zip code. Watterson jumped at the chance and went through an interview process to become a partner.
Watterson said participating means being responsible for getting the donated goods to Lenexa Baptist Church, where they were loaded into a semi.
“It’s a big responsibility because you’re taking donations from the community,” he said. “I thought it was a great opportunity for us to have a bigger impact than just our little church.”
Mary Beem, a member of Eudora Baptist Church’s Operation Christmas committee, said the church has donated to Operation Christmas Child for over 10 years and the number of donations consistently increased each year.
Beem said they were thinking about reaching 1,000 boxes as a church this year, but did not feel comfortable asking people to hit that goal during the pandemic. Nevertheless, the boxes continued coming.
“Our goal was 500 last year and we went to 777,” Beem said. “This year COVID hit, so I only set the goal at 800.”
Beem’s daughter came up with an idea to gather monetary donations from those who wanted to contribute but didn’t have time to shop. Beem’s committee would spend the donated money at the dollar store to fill the shoeboxes.
“We go shopping many, many times,” she said. “When the people at the dollar store see us coming, they set aside a register because we might check out with $900 worth of stuff at one time.”
Eudora Baptist Church started collecting the shoeboxes Nov. 1 and donated 1,037 boxes by Nov. 19.
The Refuge Christian Church and Eudora United Methodist Church were among those who participated in Operation Christmas Child as well.
“Our goal as a church is to be what Christ called us to be, a light in a dark world,” Watterson said. “We’re looking for anything that we can do, even if it’s a lot of work, to be that light to the world.”
Reach reporter Chris Fortune at eudoratimes@gmail.com.
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