Three years ago Maxine Shows says she followed her heart in obedience to the Lord when she and the ladies of Liz’s Sewing Circle said yes to revive the Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Ministry at Goodwater Baptist Church.
The first year the members assembled and delivered 50 boxes to the distribution center, Corinth Baptist Church. This year their goal is to match the 150 boxes from 2024.
Shows enlists the help of the congregation, asking for donated items from toothbrushes to paper dolls to coloring books every month or so. “We have some very good donations designated for shoeboxes and that’s how we buy what we buy,” she explained. The cost to ship one box is $10 and Missions from Goodwater pays that cost.
Samaritan’s Purse sponsors Operation Christmas Child. Each year the organization sends out a list of products appropriate for gender and age that may be shipped. The list has shrunk over the years due to customs disallowance of certain items including toothpaste and soap.
This year the ladies made dolls for the boxes. The faces are hand painted by member Sheilagh Barnes. The 80 dolls will be placed in the younger age group boxes of 2-4 and 5-9, girls and boys.
The sewing circle also involved the Girls in Action (GA’s) to assist in sewing buttons and embellishments on the dolls. This provided one on one interaction for the elementary age girls with older women in the congregation while at the same time the girls learned a necessary life skill.
Liz’s Sewing Circle is named after beloved church member and seamstress Mary Elizabeth “Liz” Holbrook, who died November 26, 2023.
