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by Adele Williams, Student Contributor

Operation Christmas Child 3Alice Lloyd College faculty and students recently contributed to Operation Christmas Child, donating 1,082 boxes that will be sent to children in over 130 countries. On December 17th, several students also traveled to the international headquarters of Samaritan’s Purse in Boone, North Carolina, to aid in processing the boxes.

Matthew Stewart, the director of Alice Lloyd’s chapter of Baptist Collegiate Ministries, chaperoned the trip and was fundamental in collecting the boxes.

“It is great to have the local churches, businesses, several Knott County schools, and of course the Alice Lloyd College community, participate in such a great cause,” Stewart said. “While a small box of toys and supplies may not seem like much, it will make a huge difference in the life of a needy child.”

It was Stewart‘s idea to make Alice Lloyd a drop-off center for the boxes. He later got involved with collecting and transporting the boxes and inspired the college community to take part in the cause, as well. According to Stewart, southeastern Kentucky collectively assembled 10,277 boxes.  

The Alice Lloyd students who traveled to North Carolina were Mack Asher, Chelsea Burke, Jackson Driskill, Kayla Gooslin, Tiffany Salisbury, and Alex White, along with ALC graduate Katie Driskill and Alice Lloyd Information Technology technician, Jordan Combs. The group spent eight and a half hours inspecting, scanning, and packaging what is estimated to be a few thousand boxes. A total of 42,000 boxes were processed on the day of the trip. All of these boxes are currently en route to the African nation of Mali.

Christmas Child Collage
Stewart added, “I am so proud of our students for giving their time to this. It is awesome to see them build unbreakable relationships with our community and to see them go out of their way during Christmas break just to make another person’s holiday season better. I know that all of the students who went to Boone shared the experience of learning the true meaning of the season of Christmas, and I also believe that they will never forget the importance of giving back to our community.”