News release
Two speakers with Operation Christmas Child will be telling their stories at 7 p.m. Friday, July 22, at the Lincoln Building, 920 Lincoln, Quinter.
Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan’s Purse, an international relief ministry headquartered in Boone, N.C. Each year thousands of individuals pack shoeboxes with toys, school supplies and hygiene items. These boxes are then collected and shipped to children in need all over the world, including some poverty-stricken areas in the U.S.
For many of these children, this is the first gift they have ever received. Each box also contains a pamphlet, written in that child’s language, telling the child about Jesus and how these gifts represent the love that He has for each child.
Pastor Mark Brumbelow and his wife, Cherry, serve Grace Baptist Church in Wild Peach, Texas.
In 2016, the church had but 30 members. They packed more than 2,000 shoebox gifts. The following year, in 2017, they packed 8,030 shoeboxes despite the fact that flooding from Hurricane Harvey had devastated many of the members’ homes. The congregation even raised the suggested donation of $9 per shoebox to cover the cost of shipping.
Shortly afterwards, the Brumbelows were invited to travel to storm-ravaged Barbuda to distribute shoebox gifts to children who had lost their homes to Hurricane Irma.
Rachel Albin of Hays, OCC area coordinator for Northwest Kansas, urged families to “come hear how God has been using the Brumbelows for His glory.” The family-friendly event is free and open to the public.