New Hope Baptist Church Sets Special Service With Special Speaker
|
|
Covington, VA (July 21, 2025) - Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has collected and delivered over 232 million gift-filled shoeboxes to children in more than 170 countries and territories. The shoeboxes are filled by volunteers with simple items like toothbrushes, notebooks, pencils and toys and collected locally by “drop off locations” like Covington Bible Church in Covington.
Jon Fitzgerald has served as the “drop off leader” at CBC and is a part of the Western Virginia Area Team of year-round volunteers for Operation Christmas Child. Other area residents who serve on the team are Kristen Hummel, Kathy Dudding, Susan Fey, Teresa Gleason and Ashley Hipes. Last year, the Covington drop off collected over 2500 shoeboxes which contributed to over 14,000 collected by the Western Virginia area.
On July 27, New Hope Baptist Church will host special speaker Shimea Nguessan who received an Operation Christmas Child shoebox gift while living in Ivory Coast, Africa. Shimea will share what that gift meant to him and how his life has been impacted by it.
Area Coordinator for the team, Laurie Fitzgerald, said, “The Western Virginia Area Team covers a wide area locally including Craig County, Salem, Roanoke and Alleghany County. We are so grateful for the faithfulness of the team and members of the community who, along with all of the churches who not only help to get the word out about how to participate in Operation Christmas Child but who pack shoeboxes themselves. It’s a simple but effective way to show God’s love to a child who may be in an impoverished or war-torn area and let them know that they are seen and that they matter. I would really encourage people to come out and hear Shimea’s story and see how they can get involved in Operation Christmas Child. I recently traveled to Ecuador to help with handing out some of the shoeboxes and I can tell you, if you are looking for a way to make a difference in a child’s life, this is it.”
New Hope Baptist welcomes everyone to attend this special service on July 27 at 5:00 PM. The event will be held at the Hosey farm located at 6818 Dunlap Creek Road, Covington, which is just outside of Covington. A potluck dinner will be served so please RSVP to Kathy Dudding at (540) 588-9627 if you plan to attend.
| | | | | |
|
