Plymouth Brethren Christian Church break Operation Shoebox Record
Our involvement in the ‘shoeboxes to soldiers’ initiative goes back to 2010 when a group of students from one of our schools decided to pack a number of boxes including a personal note from each of them for the soldiers. They were rewarded for their efforts by receiving a very surprise visit from Major Tim Gurney, who came to their school especially to thank them.
The Brethren’s Gospel Hall
This summer, in 2013, with the UK soldiers still in Afghanistan, and the recent horrific murder in London, we felt freshly drawn to make a massive effort to send a message of encouragement to our troops serving us out in Afghanistan.
Some of the 40 willing packers!
Over 1100 Shoeboxes were packed with goodies by 40 volunteers from our Church during a 5 hour marathon event held at one of our Gospel Halls in Wiltshire on Friday 2nd August. Ian Whiteway, founder of Operation Shoebox UK confirmed that this is the largest number of boxes ever packed in one day! The boxes included a personal message from us as Christian friends and also a reply card whereby the recipient could claim a free Bible. The funds for this event were donated by more than 70 Plymouth Brethren churches across the country, and we were also able to make a donation of £1100 to Lieutenant Colonel Richard Miller, of ABF the Soldiers Charity.
All ages, hard at work!
Shoebox contents and checklist
We have donated the boxes to Operation Shoebox UK who will ensure these get delivered safely to our soldiers on the front line in the next few months. We are again looking forward to receiving feedback and messages from our troops out there, who are always much in our thoughts and prayers as they nobly carry out the orders of our Government.
A resounding result for our forces!
We continue to beseech God in prayer for their blessing, preservation and safe return home to their loved ones.
😀
Great work people
Would be very interested to see that list of contents! We recently tried to fill a couple of shoeboxes for our grandchildren to donate to poor children and were amazed at how much will fit in!
Excellent work, once again! 🙂
Haj haj….
wow that is cool!….must have been pretty hard work!… keep going all…good luck:)
Grandad
hey that is BRILLIANT! .. all of u deserve a HUGE pat on the back! … well done to you all!!! .. and keep going with the brilliant cause! 🙂
A first class worthy cause, we pray for these peacekeeping forces constantly. We would all like to be involved
Excellent Job! It’s great to see all the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church are doing!
Great job and teamwork to all who helped. Those who receive them will no doubt be very cheered with a little bit of “home” as well as the knowledge that their daily fight to protect those at home and their brave efforts are appreciated and not forgotten.
To Admin
May I apologise for my last comment? It sounded a bit rude! Sorry – it was a genuine query as to whether the RRTs have been busy lately in the UK. We do love to hear what’s going on. Many thanks for all you do.
Well done!!!
Keep the enthusiasm up!!
Hey, I know that really short guy in the 2nd pic!!
Yeah…he’s a right hunky munky…that lad! lol!!
I believe a number of our schools join in with this initiative – can we hear from them all, please?
We’re a bit short of blogs in the UK! Is Admin sitting on a load of articles or what?
Hello Granny- We (Stockport campus) have just done a batch aswell…do you think we should get a report on??
Managed to do 500 shoeboxes, raised about £2500 to do it, with giving Operation Shoebox £500 aswell.
It was years 12’s at Stockport Campus.
It was a pleasure to come and see you all at work packing the boxes. Thank you so much for your efforts – and for your very generous donation. Both will be very much appreciated by others who are in need. My best wishes to you all.
hey guys…this is a really great idea…keep it up:)
Keep the home fires burning – Well done PBCC, the lads on the frontline need all the support they can get. God Bless the Armed Forces for all they do for justice.
Thank you Plymouth Brethren Christian Church – Most people wouldn’t realize what our boys and girls face out there every day in the theater of war- these boxes will bring them a ray of encouragement and hope! Lets pray that they return home safely to their loved ones.
This is fantastic – what a very worthwhile charity to support.
We really appreciate what our servicemen and women do and the offer of a free bible is superb!
Brilliant work – fantastic effort for a very worthwhile cause.
Hey – how about a Shoebox Challenge to see if any other locality can beat this fantastic effort??
YES!!! A boxathon!!
Well done all involved! Great work… I am sure the luck 1100 will greatly appreciate these – but am not sure how the thousands that miss out will feel! 😉 Keep up the good work