Parkview M.B. recognized for service
Staff writer
Operation Christmas Child recognized Parkview Mennonite Brethren Church Sunday for 10 years of service as a shoebox gift drop-off location.
Pastor Tom Byford and local OCC coordinator Susan Paine were presented with a large, framed certificate from a south central district representative.
Over the past 10 years, the church has collected 10,562 shoebox gifts that were distributed to children in more than 160 countries around the world. Many are victims of war, famine, and poverty, and oftentimes the shoebox is the first Christmas gift they have ever received.
Paine said shoeboxes come from churches, individuals, and communities throughout the county. The boxes are collected every year during a week before Thanksgiving. This year, they will be collected from Nov. 12 to 19.
One year, almost 1,500 boxes were collected.
Paine’s responsibility is to make sure all boxes go on to a collection center. They are packed in cartons and transported by U-Haul to Wichita, loaded onto semis, and trucked to Denver to be processed for shipment overseas.
Paine said she was involved in Operation Christmas Child before she and her husband moved to Hillsboro 10 years ago. She started the operation in Marion County.
“This is not about me,” she said. “I want this to be a recognition of the church and God.”
Operation Christmas Child operates under the auspices of Samaritans Purse.
More information is available from Paine at (620) 947-3497.