Hailey Hovious, Gavin York, and Haiden Russell dropped off their three boxes Sunday afternoon at the Wheet Fellowship Hall. They said this was the first year they had packed shoebox gifts. They were the first individuals to drop off on Sunday afternoon.
Kaden Richard and Ally Brown put the Adair County total over 3,000 with their delivery. They dropped off these beautiful plastic boxes from Jones Chapel Church.
Megan and Kailyn Shepard dropped off shoebox gifts Sunday afternoon.
Shirley Jones has been packing individual shoeboxes for OCC for several years.
Doug and Debbie Cowan and Clifton and RoseMary Bennett dropped off these wonderful boxes packed by Purdy Separate Baptist Church.
Eight year old Grayson and seven year old Maxton Fudge said they enjoyed shopping for toys more than any other item in their boxes. They made their drop off Sunday afternoon.
Delaine Corbin dropped off boxes that were packed by Little Cake Christian Church.
Clay Turner and Jenny Myers dropped off boxes that were packed by the Columbia Christian Church.
T
he Hayes Chapel Church delivered these beautiful plastic boxes Sunday afternoon to the drop-off center. Pictured with the boxes are Brian and Julie Campbell.
The Prince of Peace Lutheran Church has been making regular drop offs at the Wheet Fellowship Hall the last few years. Pictured with their boxes is Ginny Reed.
Kasey Blue Kessler dropped off shoebox gifts for the 14th straight year. For each year Kasey gets older he adds one more box so now he’s 14 years of age. Pictured with him is his dad Eddie Kessler. The Kessler’s track their boxes and have had boxes go to the countries of Columbia, Madagascar, and a French province in South Africa among other places.
The Rheber Nazarene Church in Casey County has delivered shoebox gifts to the Wheet Fellowship Hall for the past 15 years. Pictured with their beautiful boxes is Anna Huff.
The final drop off of the day on Sunday was made by the Glens Fork Church of the Nazarene. This year they packed a record number of boxes. They brought in several cartons of boxes in addition to the ones that the children are holding. Marlee Fudge, Tate Fudge, Jagger Collins, and Nash Collins. Grandparents Jerry and Lee Ann Collins brought their grandchildren by to drop off their beautiful boxes.
Columbia First Church of the Nazarene had people of all ages packing boxes Sunday evening. The Wheet Fellowship Hall of the Columbia First Church of the Nazarene has served as the central drop off location for many years. In addition to boxes from Adair County, boxes from Metcalfe, Casey and Hart County also are delivered to the Columbia First Church of the Nazarene.
Saturday and Sunday was another busy time of shoebox collections at the Columbia First Church of the Nazarene. Several hundred boxes were collected bringing the total going into Monday morning to 3429 shoebox gifts collected in Adair County thus far. This number is only 156 shoeboxes short of last year‘s total of 3585 shoebox gifts.
The Columbia First Church of the Nazarene is the central drop off location for Adair County and the Green River area.
The First Church of the Nazarene/Wheet Fellowship Hall is located at 1200 Jamestown Street Columbia, Ky. OCC shoebox donations will be accepted Monday, November 24, 2025 from 8amCT to 10amCT.
(Mark Fudge, Green River Area Coordinator – Operation Christmas Child)