1,000 boxes

Club wraps up its first official event

After a week filled with a late-night packing party, a dance-off and students dressed as giant shoeboxes longboarding down University Boulevard, the Nov. 10-14 LU Shoebox Blitz brought in nearly 1,000 shoebox gifts as a part of the Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child initiative.

According to Ellen Ferguson, president of Liberty’s newly established Operation Christmas Child club, this was the first time Liberty, as well as Operation Christmas Child, had hosted a week-long shoebox collection event like this.

“It wasn’t just my first time or the club’s first time, it was everyone’s first time,” Ferguson said. “So, of course, there is a learning curve. I do think that the blitz was very successful, and I know that we will reuse most, if not all, of this year’s ideas.”

Operation Christmas Child’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Manager Mesfin Abera, who facilitated Liberty’s collection process, said the organization hopes to make the LU Shoebox Blitz an annual event.

“This has been very successful in many ways because we have started something new, a tradition that hopefully we can build on next year,” Abera said in a Liberty University News Service article.

Approximately 75 volunteers helped during the event, Ferguson said. Volunteers assisted by folding shoeboxes for distribution, dressing up as shoeboxes to raise awareness around campus and collecting boxes at Shoebox Central, which was the home base for the blitz.

Ferguson and the others involved believe the LU Shoebox Blitz gave the Liberty community an opportunity to tangibly bless children around the world.

“I would describe it as a huge success,” Ferguson said. “Last year, Liberty only collected 400 boxes. This year, we collected 989. That’s 989 children who are going to hear about Christ.”

In addition to the toys and personal care products the kids will receive when they open their shoeboxes, they will also be enrolled in a 12-week program that teaches children how to become followers of Christ and share their faith with others. The program, titled The Greatest Journey, is taught by local, trained teachers and even includes a graduation ceremony at the end.

Ferguson called the distribution of the boxes “a modern-day fish and loaves story,” as each box has the potential to share the gospel message with several people.
“You give one box and it could reach 15-20 people, sharing the hope of Christ and the glory of his resurrection,” Ferguson said. “ … You are dealing with God’s multiplication, and with God, all things are possible.”

According to Ferguson, the LU Shoebox Blitz gave volunteers the chance to work with several people who received shoeboxes when they were younger and have since accepted Christ, including Liberty graduate student Natasha Ivanova.

“The Christmas season is one of my favorite times of the year, because it was during this season that my life was changed 17 years ago,” Ivanova said. “I want to encourage everyone to … pray over the boxes, because you will never know how it can change lives around the world.”

Following the event, Ferguson said she is excited about the future of the Operation Christmas Child club.

“(I)’ve been saying since August that the goal for this year was simply to raise awareness of Operation Christmas Child and let the student body know who (our club is),” Ferguson said. “I think we did that in a big way.”

The new club will also host a few events during the spring semester, according to Ferguson. For more information about Operation Christmas Child or the Liberty club, visit samartianspurse.org/occ or email lushoeboxblitz@gmail.com.

BROWN is the editor-in-chief.

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