Locals Participate in Operation Christmas Child 2017 – Part 2

In Part 1 of AMR’s story on locals participating in Operation Christmas Child, we introduced Cappie Hull in Highland County.  She has been preparing for this program months in advance.  Back in the middle of summer, the theme of Monterey’s Vacation Bible School was “A Journey to Bethlehem, Christmas in July,” and children and adults were already looking forward to this time of year.  Ms. Hull explains,

“This summer, the community Bible School that was held in Monterey at the Methodist Church had Operation Christmas Child as a focus of Bible School.  Children collected an offering every day, and with that offering money, items were purchased to fill boxes to send abroad, and those children were so excited to do it.  It was just great to see the community of little ones want to share gifts with people in other countries.  They wanted to spread the love that they were experiencing in Bible School to children they didn’t even know, so they raised enough money to send almost fifty shoeboxes from their Bible School that week.

“The children at Bible School were so excited about doing this, so I would like to offer adults in our community the same opportunity as they had to do something really simple, just get a shoebox, go shopping, have joy in your heart as you’re buying something special for a child you don’t even know and then realize that you’re spreading God’s love through something so simple that’s coming from our beautiful mountains of Highland County to a world that’s so much less fortunate than we are.”

Nearly 11.5 million shoebox gifts were collected worldwide in 2016, and Operation Christmas Child hopes to collect enough this year to reach another 12 million children in countries like Peru, the Philippines, Rwanda and Ukraine.  Ms. Hull is hosting a packing party at the old H&H Cash Store in Monterey on Thursday, November 2nd at 2:00 p.m with a goal of sending off thirty filled shoeboxes to add to that overall total.  The public is invited to participate, and videos about Operation Christmas Child are planned to be viewed.  Ms. Hull can be contacted at 540-468-2408, and folks can visit https://www.samaritanspurse.org/occ to learn more.   Other local information and contacts about Operation Christmas Child in Bath and Pocahontas Counties are available in Part 1 of this story posted at www.alleghenymountainradio.org.

 

Story By

Chris Swecker

is the Assistant Station Coordinator and a News Reporter for WVLS. He has roots in Highland County going back several generations, and he grew up in Monterey. Since graduating from James Madison University with a bachelor’s degree in Media Arts and Design, he has pursued his career at a news station and advertising agency in Virginia, on Microsoft’s campus in the state of Washington, and in both states as sole owner and employee of a video production company. He enjoys exploring life with his wife, Jessa Fowler, traveling, hiking, hunting, gardening, and trying new foods, all while discovering more about what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. He feels blessed to be a small part of this talented AMR team to help give back to the community that has provided him with so much.

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