Joy of Christmas

Thanks to the efforts of the generous people of southwestern Pennsylvania, Operation Christmas Child, the world’s largest international Christmas project for children, collected 16,685 boxes Nov. 14 to 21, 2005. Drop-off locations were situated in Uniontown, Monroeville, Meyersdale, Rockwood, Greensburg, Connellsville, Normalville, Pt. Marion and Farmington.

From the collection center at the Greensburg Free Methodist Church, the boxes were sent to a processing center in Charlotte, N.C., where they were made ready for shipment and sent out to children around the world.

This year, Operation Christmas Child sent gifts to some 7 million children in nearly 100 countries. For many boys and girls, these will be the only gifts they received this Christmas. On behalf of Operation Christmas Child, I want to express our thanks to the Greensburg Free Methodist Church for providing a location for collection of the gifts and to all the volunteers who helped at the collection center.

We are grateful for pastors and church members who organized Operation Christmas Child in their congregations. More than 260 churches in our region donated shoe box gifts.

Most of all, I want to thank everyone who packed a shoe box.

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