Mrs. Frances McDonald has a mind for missions and a heartbeat for children, and has been using her time and talents for both the last twenty- five years through Operation Christmas Child (OCC) – an outreach of Samaritan’s Purse founded by Rev. Franklin Graham. Her efforts began in 1997 at the Jena First Baptist Church when the Mission Action Director, Mrs. Ernie Poole, asked her to assume the leadership chair of the OCC. The OCC focus was on the Shoebox Ministry which works to collect everyday items to fill shoeboxes to ship to children all over the world at Christmas time with the purpose to share the gospel of Christ. Mrs. Frances gladly accepted, and today, that work has grown from the first collection of 25 filled boxes to 2,238 shoeboxes this Christmas.
“OCC has been my heart’s calling since the beginning,” she said. “With God’s leadership, my great husband, Tony, and many dedicated helpers standing with me, we have been able to send our witness for Christ to many children and families throughout the world.”
The Shoebox Ministry begins each January with the new year and continues to raise funds through garage sales, donations and other efforts. Items are then purchased through the end of October to fill the designated boxes. Once all the items are collected, each box is filled to capacity in a church group effort that involves everyone from children to elders, then they are sealed and transported to Kingsville Baptist Church and shipped across the globe.
Mrs. Frances is always astounded at the goodness of others, often meeting random people who know of her work and dedication to OCC and who want to give. There have been numerous occasions wherein she’s met people in public and from her local church congregation who have “reached in their billfolds” and handed her donations to purchase the needed contents for the shoeboxes.
The boxes contain gifts such as construction paper, pencils, foldable book bags, colored pencils, soap, washcloths, jump ropes made from t-shirts (hand cut and assembled by the committee with a little help from JFBC Pastor Garrett West), toothbrushes, a t-shirt, a “WOW” item, such as a deflated soccer ball and a pump for boys and a doll for each girl and a host of other everyday goods that most children in the US take for granted. This year, Mrs. Frances and her team added handmade stuffed Scottie dogs to place in each box. It’s amazing how many items the team puts into each box, taking both skill and determination. When asked how they achieve such a task, Mrs. Frances replied, “Very carefully!”
When it comes to asking for help, Mrs. Frances professes that she’s not hesitant.
“I went around the church asking members, ‘Can you sew? Can you sew? Can you make some Scottie dogs?’ then people all around the church and community were helping,” she shared.
Included with each shoebox is a small booklet called “The Greatest Journey” which contains twelve bible stories beginning in Genesis and continuing throughout the Bible. The stories are taught to the children receiving the boxes by nationalists from their local communities who hand them out, and Mrs. Frances shared that many ‘make a profession of faith’ afterward.
“That’s the whole purpose of the program – it’s an evangelism tool,” she explained.
Mrs. Frances, retired educator and librarian, is stepping down from her leadership role for OCC at the end of December 2023, but is not completely retiring as she intends to continue working with the committee in the upcoming years. Her husband, Tony, has suffered some health issues and the years of working with tasks such as cutting t-shirts for jump ropes have taken a toll on her hands. She feels it is time to pass the baton to someone else.
“I would love to go to one of these countries (which receive the shoeboxes),” she said, her heart in her voice. “I have loved working with the ladies, and I am always telling them, ‘Let’s do this, let’s do that.’ I just like leading people.”
Her leadership has no doubt touched countless lives.
“When I do anything, I do it with my whole heart,” she continued, smiling. “I told the girls (on the committee), it’s going to be hard to be a follower because I have always been a leader and naturally boss people around!”
The ‘girls’ and other team members call her ‘Boss Lady’ and finding someone to replace Mrs. Frances will no doubt be a challenge. She and her husband have been invaluable to the church OCC project in their effort, time and commitment.
Mrs. Frances’ most valuable takeaway from her decades of service to OCC is knowing that children across the globe come to know the Lord through what she passionately termed ‘missions in a shoebox.’ As she has told her fellow laborers, they are sending something valuable to a country they will never visit but one shoebox filled and sent to that country can touch ten lives.
As Mrs. Frances steps down and another assumes her role, her work will continue to be far reaching. Like the fishes and loaves in scripture, the shoebox ministry from First Baptist Church under her leadership has reached thousands, and the fragments continue to fill the needs of those who receive them.
“I have mixed emotions – a little relieved and also sad because I love doing it,” she reflected. “I do everything big!”
Indeed, she does. God has used her in a big way and children that she will never meet or know have reaped the benefits and will continue to do so for a very long time.
