Local Gwinnett County Teach Helps Needy Kids in Rwanda

As the school year begins to wind down in Atlanta, having enough school supplies is the last thing on anybody’s mind.

Not so for 3,000 needy children in schools and churches near the capital city of Kigali in Rwanda.

This month these impoverished children received shoebox gifts full of school supplies, toys and hygiene items thanks to Atlantans who packed and donated these gifts.

Midge Miller, fifth grade school teacher from W.C. Britt Elementary in Snellville, was selected from many applicants from the Southeast to hand deliver these gift-filled shoeboxes to the needy children of Rwanda.

Midge serves as the Atlanta Prayer Team Coordinator of Operation Christmas Child volunteers in Gwinnett, Fulton and DeKalb Counties.

“What an honor to be able to deliver gifts to those grateful children,” said Midge.

In April, Rwanda remembered the horrible genocide that took place 20 years ago. Midge said it was amazing to see how the beautiful people of Rwanda have moved from the terror of 1994 into a time of forgiveness and growth.

"The rebuilding of Rwanda made it especially important for us to be there to celebrate with the children and their parents.  Spending time with Rwandans and putting these simple gifts into their lives brought them hope and gave us all great joy,” said Midge.

Over 50 churches and organizations in Gwinnett, Dekalb, Fulton, Cobb and other Atlanta counties participate each year in packing shoebox gifts for Operation Christmas Child. These gifts are then distributed through local churches around the world as a way of building children’s ministries and offering a tangible sign of God’s love and hope to children in suffering communities.

Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan’s Purse, has delivered shoebox gifts to more than 113 million children in over 100 countries, including more than 533,000 in Rwanda. Through the power of these simple gifts and the message of eternal hope through Jesus Christ, children learn they are loved and not forgotten. For many of these children, the shoebox will be the first gift they have ever received.

Click here (Alex’s Story) to see how an Operation Christmas Child gift began a powerful journey to forgiveness for one Rwandan child. And for information about Operation Christmas Child, visit samaritanspurse.org.