God has given

When Hurricane Helene hit in late September, Fairview Baptist Church opened its doors to serve surrounding communities devastated by the storm, said Pastor Todd Royal. Thankfully, most of the church’s 60 regular congregants made it through the storm unharmed and with limited damage to their homes, but many of their neighbors around Fairview, N.C., were hard hit. 

Despite the setback, the goodness of God has been sufficient for the church to continue its ministries to immediate neighbors—and those overseas. 

The church is situated behind a fire station, so crews restored power to the building fairly quickly, Royal said. People around the country started sending supplies to the church. “On that Monday after the storm, supplies started coming in with water, food, and medicine,” he said.

Over the last eight weeks, Royal, his church, and countless volunteers and officials have met the needs of many local people, some of whom lost everything in the storm and the floodwaters it brought. Thousands of people felt the loss of jobs, safe homes and even loved ones—more than two hundred people in six states perished due to Hurricane Helene. While some people still come to the church in need of food or basic supplies, their needs have shifted to long-term issues like housing and reliable heat. 

As the need for emergency supplies decreased, the Fairview congregation was one of many in the region who turned their attention to Operation Christmas Child. The church that Royal has pastored for 25 years participates every Christmas season in the effort organized by Samaritan’s Purse. Volunteers fill small boxes with hygiene items, school supplies, and toys. Samaritan’s Purse delivers them internationally to needy children via local churches where the kids hear the Gospel.

“There wasn’t really any consideration that we wouldn’t do the shoeboxes,” Royal said. “There’s so many children all around the world who pretty much live what we’ve been going through the last two months.” The church gathered in the evening Sunday, Nov. 24, for a packing party to assemble the last of the boxes. The volunteers started working shortly before 7 p.m. and an hour later had completed 600 boxes. The church assembled 1,538 shoebox gift packages by the end of the collection period on Monday, surpassing a goal it set earlier.

It’s just one of many such packing parties in American churches. Last year, Samaritan’s Purse collected 11.3 million boxes from around the world. This year, the organization hopes to collect 12 million boxes. More than 84,000 churches across the United States participate each year, according to the organization. 

In Fairview, filling the boxes became a source of healing for the community, Royal said. “You just can't receive the amount of love and care that we have and not want to give some of that back. Our God is a giving God, and we've experienced that in the last eight weeks.”

Dig deeper: Read Grace Snell’s report in WORLD Magazine about how one community is beginning to pick up the pieces after the hurricane’s devastation.

A church in Spruce Pine, N.C. also participated in Operation Christmas Child. Photo courtesy of Samaritan’s Purse