The parking lot at Royal Redeemer Lutheran Church was fairly packed on Saturday, November 13. That was the first clue something exciting was taking place. A once-a-year activity had dozens and dozens of would-be elves opening red and green shoe boxes and filling them with treasures and love. It was the annual Operation Christmas Child (OCC) shoe box stuffing celebration. The excitement flowed from one room where notes of encouragement were being penned to the large community room where tables of items were laid out ready for selection as part of a gift to a child far from North Royalton. Pastor John Zahrte talked about the enthusiasm of the many participants, “We are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus, we try to have many opportunities to give service. OCC is a family opportunity for many; some have been coming for years.”
Operation Christmas Child is a ministry of Samarian’s Purse, a world-wide effort to share the love of Christ and the Good News of the Gospel. OCC brings a gift in honor of the Christ Child to youngsters in far flung places across the globe. Jackson Frey filled a box destined for a boy between the ages of 5-9, a kid about his own age. He said the best part of filling boxes was, “because it was fun and cool.” Kenzie Eterovich filled a box for a girl like her and carrying on a family tradition. Mom Kelly said, “We encourage giving back to the community this is a good way to demonstrate it.” Each time a box was filled, an empty one was grabbed, and the process began again.
There is a whole committee that plans for this event all year long. Working with the committee are David and Debbie Frank. “Each year my basement overflows with items collected all year for OCC. The good Lord decided to use my love of shopping, for looking for good deals on toys and items for the boxes. We try to fill the boxes with as many enjoyable long-lasting things as we can such as a notebook, markers, a baseball hat, a stuffed animal, a foam ball, wash cloth, and a pair of socks; socks are always very much appreciated.” After looking at the progress of the busy box stuffers Debbie continued, “We never know where these boxes are going to go, but we do know that this may be the only gift a child may ever receive. It’s very humbling when you think about it.” Operation Christmas Child is indeed a family affair their daughter Lauren helped with the prep table and son, David, flew in from Kansas City just to take part in this family tradition. Making a new holiday tradition was Kathy Varnes, a sprite lady with a winning smile. “I’m new to this congregation. This is my first box stuffing and I’m going to be back next year,” she said.
Over 600 boxes were filled on Saturday with hundreds more coming from Royal Redeemer School Children and other members of the church and community. RRLC is a drop off site for congregations and folks in the area to drop off shoe boxes. But there was a deadline. Right before 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 21, a few merry gentlemen with muscle and a gentle lady with verve showed up to put 162 shipping cartons with over 2000 donated boxes on a U-Haul truck to take them to be loaded on a Semi-truck and driven to North Carolina. In North Carolina, every single shoe box is inspected and separated into shipments bound for far flung areas of the world. Kim Hittle, who had been checking in donations all morning and watched the last of the cartons placed on the truck said with satisfaction, “We start again tomorrow for Operation Christmas Child 2022.”
By LINDA KWARCIANY
Contributing Writer