Local bikers kick-start Operation Christmas Child's 2014 shoebox gift outreach
Motorcyclists from throughout southern Ohio will gather for a prayer ride and hog roast to promote Operation Christmas Child’s annual collection effort for shoebox gifts to send to children less fortunate.
More than 60 bikers will follow a 132-mile route, stopping at each of seven drop-off locations for shoebox gifts throughout southern Ohio.
“This Prayer Rider Shoebox Ride is an outreach to get the communities involved by blessing the less fortunate while spreading God’s word,” said Saundra Brown, an organizer for Prayer Riders of Washington Courthouse. “We feel truly blessed to be a part of this event, and that we can give graciously from what has been given to us.”
Operation Christmas Child partnered with the Prayer Riders club to coordinate the event with the Southern Hills chapter of Bikers for Christ out of Hillsboro.
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Prayer Riders will begin at noon in Washington C.H. at the Fairgrounds, stopping in Wilmington and Blanchester. Bikers for Christ will start the ride in Hillsboro at Holtfield Station at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, stopping in Sardinia and West Union.
The two biker groups will converge in Hillsboro and complete the ride to Greenfield and Washington Court House. Bikers are encouraged register for the event at http://www.prayerriders.com/shoeboxregistration.
This event will present excellent coverage opportunities, including interviews with local volunteers and project organizers who dedicate hundreds of hours coordinating shoebox gift collections in their community and have traveled the world delivering gifts to children.
A crowd of motorcyclists in full gear, carrying Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, will ride through major intersections and gathered at community centers throughout the region.
The exact schedule is as follows: Calvary Baptist, Wilmington, 12:30-12:45 p.m.; First UMC, Hillsboro, 2:30-3:15 p.m.; Church of Christ, Blanchester, 1:15-1:30 p.m.; First Baptist, Greenfield, 3:45-4 p.m.; Church of Christ, Sardinia, 11:30-11:50 a.m.; Fayette Bible Church, WCH, 4:30 p.m.; Christian Union, West Union, 12:30-12:50 p.m.; and Fayette County Fairgrounds, 5 p.m.
This November, Operation Christmas Child volunteers will support thousands of drop-off sites nationwide, where gift-filled shoeboxes will be collected and transported with a wide variety of resources, including bicycles, camels and canoes. Each shoebox will eventually be hand-delivered to a child in need. For many children, this represents the first gift they have ever received.
Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian relief and evangelism organization headed by Franklin Graham. Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has delivered gift-filled shoeboxes to more than 113 million children in more than 150 countries. In 2014, Operation Christmas Child hopes to collect enough shoebox gifts to reach another 10 million children.
For more information about how to participate in Operation Christmas Child, call Helen Hiestand at 937-393-2790 or visit http://www.samaritanspurse.org.
National Collection Week for gift-filled shoeboxes is Nov. 17-24; however, shoebox gifts are collected all year at the Samaritan’s Purse headquarters in Boone, North Carolina. Participants can also build a shoebox through an online tool offering a personalized and convenient way to send a gift to a child in one of the hardest-to-reach countries.
Using special tracking technology, participants can follow their boxes online and discover the country to which their gifts will be delivered to children in need. To register a shoebox gift, use the online donation form at http://www.samaritanspurse.org.