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