Churches pack boxes for those in need

ELYRIA — Volunteers across the country, and the world, are busy packing shoeboxes with Christmas gifts for children in need, including volunteers in Lorain County. This year, four Lorain County churches are acting as donation collection centers for Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child with many more churches and organizations coming together to pack individual boxes to donate. For the past two years, Christian Unity Church in Grafton has put together 600 boxes filled with small toys, dolls, stuffed animals and hygiene products. Gerri Miller, drop-off coordinator for Operation Christmas Child, brought the project to her Grafton church about 25 years ago. "I found out about it at college and brought it back to our church youth group," she said. "We started by making a couple boxes the first year." Since then, the packing parties have grown. On Saturday, about 55 volunteers ranging in age from 4 months to 80 years old gathered to pack items that had been collected throughout the year. "We have a monthly collection where we tell the congregation what we are collecting each month," Miller said. "People donate items or money, and then we go buy what we need." Collections have included small baby dolls and stuffed animals; coloring books and crayons; school supplies; hairbrushes, combs and hair accessories; and washcloths and toothbrushes. "This started for me from my love of working with children and being a part of little kids' lives," Miller said. "The more I worked on it and saw the impact on children and the ability to share God with them really impacted me." Miller even gets her family in on the project with her husband and 7-year-old son Hayden and 4-year-old daughter Georgia helping with the packing party. While her daughter is a little young to remember packing in the past, her son doesn't have that problem. "He's gone every year since he was born," she said. "He has a good time. Then, he gets distracted and goes off in a corner and plays." The church collected close to 2,000 boxes, including its own 600, last year that were shipped to children around the globe, many of them orphans. For these children, a toothbrush of their own can mean the same to them as an Xbox. While shoeboxes are still available for packing at some locations, including Christian Unity Church, this is collection week and churches are focused on gathering boxes and preparing them for shipping. Anyone with a filled shoebox to donate can drop them off during drop-off times at Good Shepherd Baptist Church, 1100 Cleveland Ave., Amherst; Christ Church Westshore Anglican, 726 Avon Belden Road, Avon Lake; Abbe Road Baptist Church, 670 Abbe Road N., Elyria; Christian Unity Church, 36353 Capel Road, Grafton or North Olmsted Friends Church, 5665 Great Northern Blvd., North Olmsted. "During our open hours, we have volunteers out there collecting boxes and filling out paperwork for shipping," Miller said. Since 1993, more than 209 million children in more than 170 countries and territories have received an Operation Christmas Child shoebox. Contact Christina Jolliffe at ctnews@chroniclet.com. Good Shepherd Baptist Church, 1100 Cleveland Ave., Amherst5-7 p.m. now through Friday10 a.m. to noon Saturday1-3 p.m. Sunday9-11 a.m. Monday Christ Church Westshore Anglican, 726 Avon Belden Road, Avon Lake10 a.m. to noon today and Monday2-5 p.m. Thursday and Saturday5-8 p.m. Friday12:30-3 p.m. Sunday Abbe Road Baptist Church, 670 Abbe Road N., Elyria6-8 p.m. now through Friday1-3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday1-3 p.m. Monday Christian Unity Church, 36353 Capel Road, Grafton3-6 p.m. today6-8 p.m. Thursday and Friday10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday1-4 p.m. Sunday11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday North Olmsted Friends Church, 5665 Great Northern Blvd., North Olmsted11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 6:30-8:30 p.m. now through Friday12:30-3 p.m. Saturday12:30-6:30 p.m. Sunday12:30-6:30 p.m. Monday