‘They’ve never received a gift’: Chesterfield community packs 700-plus Christmas boxes

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. — Christmas is still more than a month away, but inside Second Branch Baptist Church in Chesterfield County, Santa’s workshop is already in full swing.

On Sunday, generations of volunteers filled the church to pack more than 700 shoeboxes with toys, gifts and other items for children in need around the world. Organizers said it was the most boxes the church has ever packed.

The effort is part of Operation Christmas Child, a Samaritan’s Purse initiative that delivers shoeboxes filled with gifts to children around the world while sharing the Gospel of Jesus.

For volunteers, every bit of space inside each box matters because the items inside could become some of the few possessions a child owns.

“This might be the only belonging a child might have,” said Matthew Stinson, an offensive line coach for the Matoaca High School football team. “We want it to stand up and last the test of time.”

Stinson was joined by members of the Matoaca football team, who helped pack boxes alongside other volunteers.

For Stinson, the project is also an opportunity to teach his players lessons that extend beyond football.

“It’s heartwarming to say the least,” Stinson said. “Not only is it a mission of my wife and myself, it’s a mission through these young men who are here.”

Stinson said he has watched some of the players grow over the course of several years and values the opportunity to bring them into the community to serve people they may never meet.

“The goal is to change lives and bring people to Jesus,” he said. “It’s not always easy in this world we are in, and as much time as we spend with these young men, to have an opportunity to bring them here and give back, especially to people they will never meet, is especially as awesome.”

For Lindsay Stinson, who attends Second Branch Baptist Church, the project is also a reminder of how meaningful something as simple as a shoebox can be.

“A lot of times these kids get this and they’ve never received a gift,” she said. “And for us as Americans, it’s totally mind-blowing because we are just so stuff, stuff, stuff, but a lot of these kids have never received a gift.”

The boxes packed in Chesterfield County are expected to be sent to North Carolina at the beginning of the week before eventually making their way around the world to families in need.

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