Submitted Photo Volunteers at the First United Methodist Church of Elkins packed 755 shoe boxes for this year’s Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child campaign. Volunteers, from left, Rob Thompson, Bob Cowgill, Mike Fisher, Scott Criss and Bonnie Simmons, work on packing some of the boxes at the First United Methodist Church.

ELKINS — The First United Methodist Church of Elkins is just one of many churches in the Elkins area that go the extra mile to support Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child during the holiday season.

For the past 30 years, Operation Christmas Child has collected shoe boxes in the area and the First United Methodist Church has continued to contribute to the cause for the past six years, including this year when it packed 755 shoe boxes for the 2025 campaign.

“We actually did less boxes this year, but we did higher quality boxes,” said Imre Barsy, a FUMC member who has volunteered with the church’s Christmas Child campaign the past five years. “We were able to get better toys for the boxes this year. Operation Christmas Child is a very inspirational program and I’ve enjoyed being a part of it.”

Operation Christmas Child boxes are gathered in multiple states and are distributed to needy children in more than 100 countries around the world. Over 11,500 boxes were collected in Randolph, Tucker, Barbour, Upshur and Pocahontas counties in 2024.

Barsey said that eight dedicated volunteers and students from the Elkins Mountain Schools worked together to make this year’s campaign a success.

“We got together on Wednesday evenings and packed stuff up and the Mountain School students came down and also gave us some help,” Barsy said. “Those kids were such a great help to us.”

Shoe boxes are distributed to children ages 2 to 15 years-old and each box is filled with hygiene products, toys, games, clothes, shoes, and a stuffed animal. Boxes also include one “Wow” item that can be anything from a soccer ball with a pump, to an action figure

Area churches and organizations started collecting boxes during collection week, which started on Nov. 17 and ran through Nov. 24. All of the boxes collected in the area counties were eventually delivered to North Carolina by Herk Kessler and Kessler Trucking. Kessler has been delivering the boxes to locations in North Carolina free of charge for the past 24 years.

Bob Cowgill, who has been part of the Elkins area Operation Christmas Child team for the past 28 years, said that 11,000 boxes were collected in Randolph and the four surrounding counties this year.  

“Woodford Oil collects all the shoe boxes that have been gathered locally and takes them to Bowden,” Cowgill said. “From there they are transported to North Carolina by Kessler Trucking. We had right around 11,000 boxes for this year’s campaign.”

Cowgill said that close to 11 million shoe boxes are being distributed internationally this holiday season.

“Most of this year’s boxes have already been shipped overseas and the rest are still being processed,” Cowgill said. “There are 11 processing centers and the biggest one is in Charlotte, North Carolina. There’s also one in Boone, North Carolina and that’s where the headquarters is located. Kids in over 150 countries are getting these boxes.”

For more information about Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child, visit www.samaritanspurse.org.