|
Packed with
Love
Ministry
Plans to Deliver Goods to Needy Children
By Jimmy Tomlin, STAFF WRITER 09/26/06
HIGH POINT
 A
High Point ministry plans to deliver approximately 1,000 shoeboxes packed
with love to children in Belize.
Four local churches
- Lebanon United Methodist and Oakview Baptist in High Point, Mt. Vernon
United Methodist in Archdale, and Jamestown Presbyterian in Jamestown
- are donating "love boxes" packed with toys and toiletries
to "Project Love A Child," a project of the Ministries of
the Son of God.
The ministry, in
turn, will distribute the boxes to needy children in Belize, the small
Central American country where the ministry has been doing Christian
mission work since 2001.
Peggy Alexander
of High Point - whose son, Don Palmer, and his wife, Cindy, founded
the ministry - has been coordinating the local effort to collect the
boxes. This past weekend, her office - the finance department of High
Point Regional Health System - donated some 130 boxes to her church,
Lebanon United Methodist.
"I decided
I would try to introduce this project to our department," Alexander
says, "but I was really stepping out there, because mentioning
religion in the workplace is something you don't do."
The idea was warmly
received, however, and the department of about 15 employees easily surpassed
its goal of assembling 50 love boxes.
The department's
Vice President, Bob Duncan, presented the boxes to the church Sunday.
"The church
was real receptive and thrilled that we had done so many boxes,"
Alexander says.
"Project Love
A Child" is an extension of the ministry's educational program,
which provides money for school uniforms, books, school supplies and
school fees, according to Cindy Palmer.
"Some sponsors
have sent small gifts the past couple of years for Christmas to the
children they sponsor," she wrote in an e-mail. "So we started
to think... WOW! Wouldn't it be great if we could collect a container
of gifts and have the container shipped to us by boat, to the port in
Belize City."
A local couple
involved with the ministry has volunteered to pay most of the shipping
for the love boxes, according to Palmer.
The ministry has
set a goal of about 1,000 love boxes to be delivered to the children
of Belize, she says.
"All we can
say is God's hand is over this ministry at this present time, and we
as missionaries are honored He chose us to come to Belize and be a part
of God's plan for this precious country and the Belizean people,"
Palmer wrote.
"We pray through
these two programs (the education program and "Project Love A Child")
we will be able to bless the children of Belize and share the love of
Jesus with them."
The boxes from
High Point will be shipped in early December, according to Alexander.
For more information,
call the ministry's local office at 882-3449 or visit the website www.belizeministriesofthesonofgod.org.
jtomlin@hpe.com
| 888-3579
|
