Concordia community participates in Operation Christmas Child

For the past month, collections for Operation Christmas Child (OCC) have been taking place on Concordia’s campus. OCC is organized by Samaritan’s Purse, an organization that provides spiritual and physical aid to people around the world. The mission of OCC is to demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way to children in need around the world. Churches and groups of any size collect OCC shoeboxes and fill them with items such as a stuffed animal, a soccer ball with a pump, clothing, small toys, hygiene items, socks, and school supplies.  

The event was promoted by Mission Minded Students around campus with posters, campus collection areas and via chapel announcements. Various groups, teams, classes and floors in the dorms on campus participated. 

“During Christmas time it can be easy to become greedy, and to have an event that is centered around giving people who don’t really have much seemed like a good way to kick off the season,” said junior resident assistant Brooke Lange. Brooke lives in one of the halls on campus that committed to hold a hall event where residents of that hall shopped for gifts and worked together to pack OCC boxes.  

Both Julie Johnston Hermann, Director of Global Opportunities, and Dr. Jamie Hink, Assistant Professor of History, have been working on this project. As of Monday, November 14, 180 shoeboxes had been packed. Dr. Hink had her Global Issues class pack boxes for the organization as well.  

A total of 239 shoeboxes were packed and dropped off at Hillcrest Evangelical Church by November 16th. The boxes were then sent to Samaritan’s Purse warehouses to be prepared for global shipping. Soon, 239 children around the globe will receive shoeboxes that were packed by the Seward community, Concordia faculty and the student body in time for Christmas. 

“Operation Christmas Child is a great way for so many of us to be missionaries in this small way to impact the life of a child and open them to the power of the Gospel message that OCC provides with these boxes,” said Hermann.  

Check out the Samaritan’s Purse website here to get involved in OCC and to find out more information about the organization.