Board of DD clients feel the joy of giving through Samaritan’s Purse

Operation Christmas Child gets a boost from individuals, families, businesses and organizations all over the world as it sends gifts across the globe to third-world countries that have little. The gift boxes created by Operation Christmas Child, an arm of Samaritan’s Purse, are stuffed with toys, hygiene items, balls, educational material and more.

The goodwill went from one group to another on Friday, Nov. 2 as members of the Holmes County Board of Developmental Disabilities purchased items and made 25 gift boxes that will soon be headed to North Carolina, where they will be distributed to children around the world.

Board of DD staffer Miriam Miller has actually been down to North Carolina, where OCC volunteers help prepare the boxes for shipping overseas, and she said on one visit they were fortunate enough to meet Franklin Graham, who heads up the Samaritan’s Purse organization.

Having seen the gift of love being spread firsthand, Miller said she wanted to give an opportunity for the students and clients at the Board of DD to give to others.

“You hear all of these neat stories of giving and how touched these children are, and you want to be a part of it, and we wanted to give everyone here at the center a chance to be a part of that,” Miller said.

The Board of DD sent out a letter explaining what they were doing, and that provided an avenue for the families of the clients to donate toys, school supplies and hygiene products to the cause. Miller has always collected items for OCC throughout the year, so she added the collection.

Clients came into the activity room one or two at a time on Nov. 3, and Miller helped them place the various items into the gift boxes. She made sure each client was picking out what they wanted to give, and the boxes were soon filled.

“This is our first year, and I thought we saw a lot of excitement, and it was fun for everyone to assemble a box themselves,” Miller said. “Hopefully this will grow and we can do a lot more boxes next year.”

Miller said she would like to get area merchants involved next year and have them sponsor as many boxes as they’d like, creating a real community effort.

“I waited until October to put this program together, so next year we will get an earlier start so we can do more,” Miller said.

Once completed, Miller took the boxes to Keim Lumber, which generously volunteered to pay the shipping fee of $9 per gift box.

The effort was a great way for the clients to extend a giving hand to others, and Miller said it is important for them to be on the giving end and to feel the joy of being able to put a huge smile on the face of a child this Christmas season.