The first year of service as a Collection Center for Operation Christmas Child is now history. A team of volunteers from Bush Creek Church of the Brethren and the local community processed over 13,000 individual shoe boxes, enough to fill the 53 foot trailer with cartons, each containing 12 - 14 boxes. Donna Nunn chaired the effort, communicating with churches and individiuals through central Maryland.
Here is the tally from five Relay Centers:
Trinity United Methodist - Frederick
1,986 shoe boxes 152 cartons
Wesley UM Chapel - Urbana
627 shoe boxes 45 cartons
Greenridge Baptist - Clarksburg
843 shoe boxes 30 cartons
Bixler's UM - Westminster
2,837 shoe boxes 211 cartons
Solliday Oil - Hagerstown
5,854 shoe boxes 432 cartons
Bush Creek - Collection Center
1,422 shoe boxes 97 cartons
GRAND TOTAL 13,569 shoe boxes 967 cartons
The last carton was sealed and placed on the trailer at
11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, November 25th and the truck
headed south to Charlotte, North Carolina. From there,
the boxes will be distributed world wide to bring a bit of
It’s funny. This past Sunday my wife and I were invited to Bush Creek’s Christmas celebration featuring carol singing and refreshments. It was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon. During the program a collection was taken, the proceeds of which, it was announced, were to be donated to the District’s Disaster Response Fund.
Then Pastor Charlie Beekley invited me to say a few words. Those of you who know me realize right away that the invitation was fraught with danger. The danger, of course, was that I would not limit myself to a just a few words.
I’m savvy enough to know, though, not to dampen a celebration of any kind with the cold recitation of nuts and bolts statistics. So I proudly mentioned in passing, without even having checked, that I thought the Mid-Atlantic District had responded “10 or 12” times during 2008 to serve at the Brethren’s projects. I could not have been more wrong.
When I checked the records to write this report, it turns out we mustered troops, not 10 or 12 times, but 16 times. How great is that? There were new churches involved, new people involved and, of course, veteran responders who traveled to Pearl River and Chalmette, Louisiana and to Rushford, Minnesota. We’ve even been to the Brethren’s newest project recently opened in Johnson County, Indiana.
The support for this ministry is God-inspired and God-driven. All of you who have served and all of you who
have donated resources, either privately or through your participation in the District’s annual auction, can
claim the responsibility for this success. I like to think of it this way:
Because of your works, faith is not dead in the Mid-Atlantic District.
More to do, though in 2009!
Bill Caputo
Disaster Response Coordinator
www.madcares.org
Disaster Response 2008 Year End Report
Reverend Robert Kettering, pastor of the Lititz Church of the Brethren, is the leader of this 10 hour look at where we are – and where we would like to go from here. Pastor Kettering will lead participants through a series of presentations and group discussions toward some long- range planning and vision casting.
Our time together begins at 7:00 p.m. Friday,
January 30th, concluding at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday
afternoon. Friday evening will be a time of inspiration
and fellowship. All of Saturday will be dedicated to
looking toward the future of our church in large and
small group discussions.
At the June 2008 meeting of the of Administrative Board it was determined that we would ask each individual participating in the retreat to pay $50 toward the cost of the retreat
So that we may plan accurately, please register your intention to participate in this important weekend by …
