SALISBURY — When the long-time Operation Christmas Child coordinator at Catawba College retired, the tradition’s future was in limbo until passionate students answered the call to take up the reins.

“Operation Christmas Child was led by Jan Gillean until her retirement,” said Madison Bumgarner, Catawba’s Operation Christmas Child student leader. “Upon her retirement, I was asked to take on the project as a student leader. Since I had become so passionate about the organization, I immediately accepted the challenge.”

Bumgarner is a senior at Catawba College, but she’s volunteered with the campus’ Operation Christmas Child event since her sophomore year.

“I became interested when I was helping pack boxes my sophomore year here at Catawba,” Bumgarner said. “It was such a fun experience, and I really enjoyed the fellowship we all got to share as students when we came together to make an impact internationally.”

Operation Christmas Child is run through Samaritan’s Purse. It’s a worldwide drive to deliver Christmas care packages to children around the globe. Last week, Catawba students gathered together to pack those shoeboxes and prepare them for shipment.

“Most of the students (at Catawba) are familiar with the process of OCC, so when flyers go up, and the supplies start coming in, students naturally get excited about coming to pack boxes,” Bumgarner said. “We then send out email reminders about the event and spread the news by word of mouth.”

Bumgarner is not alone as a student leader of the organization. Junior Emma Nantz is serving in a coordinator role as well. The two have sought to include the student body more in the process.

“Emma Nantz and I have changed a few things since taking over as student leaders,” Bumgarner said. “The main difference is that we opened up the planning process to students so they could be involved in more than packing boxes.”

This year’s drive resulted in 475 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child, which represented a combined effort of the all-hands-on-deck approach at the packaging event and two other groups’ contributions and helped the organization push past its initial goal.

“Our goal for this year was 400 boxes,” Bumgarner said. “We were able to surpass that goal by asking other departments on campus to pack boxes themselves prior to the packing party. The Health Science and Human Performance Department gathered its faculty and students to pack 50 boxes, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes packed 25 at one of their weekly meetings. The student body packed 400 during the event, giving us 475.”

Although it might seem to come together all in one night, the Operation Christmas Child drive is a full-calendar endeavor, but that element of the project made the leadership role appeal to Bumgarner.
“The project requires year-round dedication, budgeting skills, leading fundraisers, and asking for donations from local businesses in order to be successful,” Bumgarner said. “I’ve always loved organizing and leading groups, so it just felt right for me to continue this tradition at Catawba College.”