Concordia students fill over 250 shoeboxes for 2024 Operation Christmas Child

Throughout the month of November, various individuals and groups on Concordia’s campus took part in packing over 250 red-and-green shoeboxes full of toys and gifts for children across the world. These are Operation Christmas Child boxes, filled by the millions each year for distribution by the humanitarian group Samaritan’s Purse. Samaritan’s Purse is a Gospel-driven organization serving global populations in need of physical and spiritual aid.  

This year, Concordia individuals and groups packed 256 shoeboxes; this number is up by 17 boxes since 2023 and 40 boxes since 2020.  

Dr. Jamie Hink, associate professor of history, brought her Global Issues class to fill boxes during their class period on Nov. 15., something she has done since 2017.  

“I found out about Operation Christmas Child from one of the displays Mission-Minded Students had in a hallway one year,” she said. “I fell in love with the ministry...and God planted it in my heart three years ago to try and grow it on campus.”  

[Operation Christmas Child] is really about presenting kids with the opportunity to know Christ, to be saved and to be able to spend an eternity with Him.

Hink reached out to several of Concordia’s athletic coaches to get their teams involved.  

“For other teams that pack, usually it’s the students who go out to Dollar General or Walmart and purchase whatever they think is appropriate for the box and the child they want to sponsor,” she said. The Global Issues students, however, packed donations from other sources.  

“In October I reach out through Facebook to friends and family; they put up an Amazon wish list, and...people respond to it,” Hink added. “For my class, that’s where the donations come from." She added that this year, her sister and aunt had given especially significant donations for the class’s packing session.  

Whether it’s the boxes packed in Dr. Hink’s Global Issues class, or ones dropped off by other students, Operation Christmas Child packages from Concordia will make their next stop at Seward’s Hillcrest Evangelical Free Church. From there, Dr. Hink said, they travel to Lincoln, and then to a processing center either in Denver or the Chicago area.  

“Across the globe Samaritan’s Purse has in-country partners and churches that they work with, so [international travel] is set up way ahead of time, essentially,” Hink said. “[The boxes] go by boat, they go by air, and they go by the backs of camels or donkeys. It’s really cool to see how these boxes get to the communities, especially the hard-to-reach communities like remote mountain villages.”  

Since 1993, more than 220 million children in more than 170 countries and territories have received an Operation Christmas Child shoebox.  

Children who receive a box from Operation Christmas Child may or may not be familiar with the Gospel and may have never received a gift of their own. The Samaritan’s Purse ministry focuses not only on fulfilling individual physical needs, but also on showing children around the globe the love of Christ.  

“When a child receives one of these shoeboxes, it represents the tangible love of Jesus Christ,” said Hink. “Through this ministry, children come to know Jesus Christ, not only through the shoebox they get, but through community outreach and church outreach events. If they come to these...events, they’re told about the love of Christ and the Gospel message. Then at the end, they’re surprised with one of the shoeboxes that we pack.”  

For Dr. Hink, her students, and all the others who contribute to the packing of these Operation Christmas Child boxes in the Concordia community and around the country, they are an opportunity to spread God’s love as well as addressing children’s needs.  

“[Operation Christmas Child] is really about presenting kids with the opportunity to know Christ, to be saved and to be able to spend an eternity with Him,” said Hink.  

Concordia University, Nebraska promises students a Lutheran, Christian higher education that equips them not only with skills and a degree, but also a sense of vocation and purpose for the future. It emphasizes the importance of the Gospel and is a Christ-centered community of believers and academics. Learn more about applying to Concordia here.