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Personal experiences inspire students to start ‘Shoebox Blitz’

Liberty University students dressed as Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes dance outside the collection truck
Students in Operation Christmas Child shoebox outfits enjoy the dance-off Thursday in front of Samaritan Purse’s truck.

Sophomore Ellen Ferguson, president of Liberty University’s newly formed Operation Christmas Child Club, has witnessed firsthand how small gifts distributed around the world through Samaritan’s Purse can touch children’s hearts and change lives.

The past two Christmases, she traveled to South America through a partnership between her home church in Frederick, Md., and First Baptist Church of Ambato, Ecuador, and saw the excitement and hope the shoeboxes brought to inner-city children and those living in an orphanage.

“I’ve packed boxes my entire life, but seeing the other side and seeing how it affected people for the Gospel, that really motivated me to do something bigger,” Ferguson said.

This semester, she worked with Amy Hassenpflug, the College of General Studies chair who served as the club’s faculty advisor, to organize the first Operation Christmas Child “LU Blitz,” challenging students on campus to fill boxes with assorted hygiene items, small toys and stuffed animals, school supplies, and clothing.

Hassenpflug said Ferguson and fellow student volunteers Bailie Porter and Lauren Longenecker “worked passionately around the clock,” to support the initiative. “They were fabulous.”

Operation Christmas Child (OCC), which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, has collected over 100 million shoeboxes since 1993, with Liberty students contributing to the cause every year. OCC’s National Shoebox Collection week is from Nov. 17-24, but the new club helped jumpstart donations with fun events each day last week at its “Shoebox Central” location near the Liberty University Barnes & Noble Bookstore.

Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes packaged by President Jerry Falwell and his wife, Becki.
Items to be packaged into Operation Christmas Child boxes by Liberty University President Jerry Falwell and his wife, Becki.

President Jerry Falwell and his wife Becki each packed a shoebox, encouraging students to follow suit and share the love of God and the Gospel message with impoverished and spiritually needy children around the world.

“The fact that God can use a cardboard box, honestly, is like the modern day fish and loaves story, and it happens all over the world every single day,” Ferguson said. “Each box comes with a Gospel booklet that’s seen by an average of seven to eight others. So each box has the potential to reach 15 to 20 people.”

In addition, when a child receives a shoebox, they’re also enrolled in a 12-week Bible study discipleship program, The Greatest Journey, that equips local churches with training and materials to teach children how to receive and follow Jesus as well as share their faith.

“It starts with creation and ends with, ‘OK, I’m a disciple, now how do I become a disciple who makes disciples?’ So it’s not like one box equals one changed life. It very well could be one box equals a village,” she added. “When you’re dealing with God’s multiplication, you never know what’s going to happen.”

Natasha Ivanova, who graduated with an International Business degree from Liberty in May and is a first-year graduate student pursuing an M.B.A. in Project Management, was 8 years old living in Belarus when she received her first-ever Christmas present — a shoebox from Samaritan’s Purse. Though she didn’t understand it at the time, she eventually received the greatest gift of all, accepting Jesus Christ as her personal Savior.

“I received a salvation tract in my shoebox, but my English teacher at my school refused to tell me what it was,” she said. “So I kept it and about three or four years later when I had learned English and I learned what it was, I came to know the Lord. That was when my whole life was turned around.”

Ivanova was happy to help Ferguson provide information and receive donations all week at Shoebox Central on campus.

“I’m really excited, knowing how I have been impacted by the shoebox and trying to encourage others to put one together, with love and prayer, because you never know how much this little box of stuff can impact a child around the world,” she said.

Yuliya Shubina, another Liberty graduate last May who received a Christmas shoebox while growing up in a closed Muslim country in Central Asia, is now working for Samaritan’s Purse, located in Boone, N.C. She spoke to more than a dozen classes from Monday through Wednesday, educating Liberty students on the project.

Sparky the Eagle, Liberty's mascot, poses with a student participant in the OCC LU Blitz.
Sparky, Liberty University’s mascot, helps to collect donations at Shoebox Central during Thursday’s dance-off.

The drive concluded with a dance-off featuring Sparky, the Flames’ mascot, the Chick-Fil-A cow, and students dressed as red and green shoeboxes on Thursday night, and a send-off block party on Friday from 10 p.m. to midnight, when students prayed over and blessed the 1,000 boxes collected.

“It was very exciting to see the students come out and pray and participate in the dedication,” said Mesfin Abera, Operation Christmas Child’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Manager who facilitated the collection process. “This has been very successful in many ways because we have started something new, a tradition that hopefully we can build on next year.”

 

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