Holy Redeemer Students Assist In Christmas Project

By DEBI MOYER-PARSONS, Special To The Bulletin

Published: December 18, 2003

ALPHARETTA-—At Holy Redeemer School, service to others happens at least nine times a year. Every school year each grade level participates in a major service project. The teachers, staff and parents enthusiastically endorse these projects both spiritually and financially.

“We do service because Jesus asked us to ... The only way we can do anything for Jesus today is to help his friends in need.” said Rosanne Bowen, religious education coordinator for the school.

The fourth-grade class recently completed their service project for the year, participating in Operation Christmas Child, the world’s largest children’s Christmas project. This year Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian relief organization, will hand deliver an estimated 7-million shoebox gifts to needy children in more than 100 countries.

The fourth-graders watched a video to learn more about children in crisis around the world and made posters, flyers, and even a TV commercial featuring their own jingle to inform the Holy Redeemer community about their project. The students waited patiently on the curb during carpool the week of Nov. 10 hoping that the community had heard their plea for gift-filled shoeboxes. The project was a grand success.

The fourth-grade students collected approximately 325 shoeboxes filled with gifts for children in crisis around the world. On Saturday, Nov. 22, fourth-graders and their parents delivered the shoeboxes to the Operation Christmas Child distribution center in Norcross. They were treated to a guided tour of the facility, one of only seven distribution centers for the project worldwide.

During the past decade, Operation Christmas Child has hand-delivered hope in the form of a shoebox gift to more than 24 million children suffering from war, natural disaster, disease, poverty and famine in more than 100 countries. For information call (800) 353-5949 or visit www.samaritanspurse.org.