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Johnson City, TN (June 22,2009) —Taking a break from summer jobs and pool parties, a select group of teens from across the country, including a Milligan College student, are gearing up to volunteer their time in Central America during an 8-day trip to Panama with Samaritan’s Purse Youth (SPY) teams. Each year, SPY students from ages 16 to 20 travel to third-world countries to distribute shoe box gifts to hurting boys and girls and to participate in evangelism and relief projects.
July 1-8, 20-year-old Rebekah Rollston will see firsthand the results of the project she has so much passion for and has worked hard to promote. Rollston has been packing shoe box gifts for over 10 years. She says that with each box she packs, she includes a letter and has been blessed by hearing back from many of the shoe box recipients.
“It is amazing that a shoe box can change a child’s life forever,” says Rollston. “Shoe boxes allow children to learn about Christ’s love and see His love in action. I support OCC because it’s one of the best ways to spread God’s word across the world.”
Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has hand delivered more than 68 million shoe box gifts packed with school supplies, hygiene items, and toys to children living in desperate situations around the world. Operation Christmas Child is a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse, the international relief organization headed by Franklin Graham, and is the world’s largest Christmas project.
Serving the San Blas Islands of Panama as well as Panama City, Rollston and 15 other youth from the U.S. will be distributing shoe box gifts around the islands as well as helping paint and repair a community center. While in Panama City, the group will be working with a children’s home, Amigos de Metro, distributing boxes and assisting in the renovations of the
administrative building.
For more information about Rebekah Rollston’s participation in the Samaritan’s Purse team trip, please call 828-262-1980. For more information about Operation Christmas Child, call 800.353.5949 or visit www.samaritanspurse.org. National Collection Week is Nov. 16-23;
however, shoe box gifts are collected year-round.
Contributed by Samaritan’s Purse