“Let Us Lead by Serving Others” is the motto that Brunswick County Early College High School’s Beta Club follows throughout their day-to-day life. The Club, consisting of 72 members and their Sponsor Leah Brown, constantly shows up for the community through their annual Fall Festival or Easter Egg Hunt. However, they also work on a variety of projects at their home base. Their most recent goal has been creating shoeboxes full of goodies to send to children around the world who otherwise would not receive a gift. This program is called Operation Christmas Child and Beta Club fills shoeboxes for it every November.
Operation Christmas Child is a program organized by Samaritan’s Purse. They are a religious organization, and the goal of Operation Christmas Child is to “deliver great joy and the Good News of Jesus Christ to children in need around the world through gift-filled shoeboxes.” This program has been running since 1993 and has delivered over 220 million gift-filled shoeboxes to more than 170 countries and territories. Shoeboxes are filled with toys, school supplies, and hygiene items that will surely make a child very happy during the holiday season.
Members were prompted to sign up for donation options in the three categories for boys or girls in the age range 2-4, 5-9, or 10-14. They could also donate shoeboxes and make cards with kind messages. Overwhelming amounts of donations were placed in Mrs. Brown’s classroom. Club President Angel Deras, Outreach Coordinator Tyler Tran, and myself, Secretary Kaleigh Aull, were in charge of organizing all of the supplies before we took them to the packing location later that day. I was proud of all the thoughtful products and gifts that our club had donated.
Later that day, Tyler Tran, Vice President Annika Hayden, and Marketing Director Kyler Terry transported the supplies to Odell Williamson Auditorium’s Event Center where we would be packing the boxes. We made a packing line that started with grabbing a bag and “going shopping” for your supplies after being assigned an age and gender. After that the members would grab a box and a card and begin to pack their boxes. Once they had their box checked by Mrs. Brown, they were sealed up and put into our pile. In total, the club packaged 25 shoeboxes.
When asked what their favorite part of this service project was, many Betas responded that it was coming together and packing the boxes with their friends. Jennifer Zheng, a junior at the Early College, says, “my favorite part about this service project was when we got to pack everything together as a whole group which made everything fun . . .”
This service project matters because of the impact it will have on someone. We often do not acknowledge how lucky we are to receive presents on Christmas, while others may not. An act of kindness like this is bound to make someone a bit happier. Many of our Beta members agreed. “ I think these children, who may be unable to receive presents on Christmas, will enjoy getting these boxes. It would make a big impact on their wellbeing, and I think it would make them a lot happier over the holidays.
Not only that, but it also makes us feel good just helping these kids around the world,” says Sophomore Max Elliott.
One other high school Junior, Ja’Mya Semidey-Brown, connected us back to the goals of Beta Club. She said, “This service project was impactful because we are giving back to those in need in our community. This allowed us to spread holiday joy to children and donate items they can use throughout the year. Operation Christmas Child is a prime example of our motto, ‘Let us lead by serving others.’”
Beta Club’s hard work is going to make a difference to someone’s holiday this year. Members feel a sense of accomplishment because of the service and joy they bring to others while serving the community. You can also help out in the same way by building your own shoebox or making a donation to Samaritan’s Purse online. For more information, check out their website samaritanspurse.org.
