Operation Christmas Child 2010 from our correspondent Jo Bennett
It was a cold, damp morning in late November when KS3 Henry Tyndale students (a school for children with complex learning difficulties) collected shoeboxes from the New Life Church and delivered them, with the school’s shoeboxes, to a warehouse in the wilds of Surrey (actually, a large industrial unit close to Guildford Cathedral!).
We had filled, collectively, 98 shoeboxes and the students were very proud to deliver them on behalf of their friends at school and the New Life Church.
Once we had arrived, we drove the school minibus, and my car, into the warehouse itself, where we unloaded our boxes and stacked them ready for checking. Carolyn (the OCC Area Co-ordinator) gave us a short training session on what to look for in the boxes, and then we started work.
We were reminded to always respect the intention of the sender; that is, not to make our own decisions about what went into the box, but to remember to stick to the ‘do’s and ‘don’ts’ as listed on the leaflets. Previously, I had always suspected that full or luxurious boxes would be ‘screened’ and gifts moved to less fortunate boxes, but was amazed (and actually, quite moved) by the wealth of donated goods that were arrayed on tables, by type, around the warehouse, waiting to be packed into boxes with space. If there was the tiniest piece of room, an extra gift would be squeezed in; a sharp lesson in generosity for a certain class teacher who had filled a box to what she thought was capacity, but spotted one of her students squeezing in some sweets, a pack of cards, a toothbrush and a second cuddly toy – not so full, after all!
Once we’d checked our boxes, we were able to look around the warehouse, and meet some of the volunteers; it was a very humbling experience. We were told that since the shoeboxes had started to arrive, just over a month ago, over 10,000 (!) boxes had been checked and prepared for dispatch by the volunteers in this warehouse; they had come from individuals, churches, schools, various voluntary organisations, and, from here, they were all being sent to children in Bosnia.
We saw the many, many cases of shoeboxes stacked around the perimeter of the warehouse, and learned that they were all to be loaded in three days’ time, onto a container ready to travel overseas to the recipients; another long and difficult task for the (not-so-young) volunteers.
This trip was an amazing experience, not only for my students, but also for me and my staff; we were humbled by the generosity of the individuals volunteering to work long hours, doing backbreaking work, in a cold warehouse, and for children they will never meet. We were touched by their kindness and enthusiasm in engaging with our students.
We met men and women who were motivated by God’s Love alone, and who put their faith and trust in His Love into immediate and very practical action – everything we saw in Guildford was an amazing and wonderful witness to the power of Jesus’ Love to touch hearts and change lives.
