Throughout the year, Amy Ashberry of Mathews uses her two school buses—The Shoebox Mobiles—for collecting and transporting shoeboxes filled with gifts for children around the world through Operation Christmas Child. She and friends finished packing and collecting in November, and the boxes are now on their way to the children. In Mathews, they packed 6,247 shoebox gifts this year, and 17,016 boxes since 2020. While they work on shoeboxes year round, December is a month of celebration and fun. This past weekend, the group took a trip on the school bus to tour the Celebration of Lights in Newport News, with a dinner stop at McDonald’s in Hayes on their way home. Ashberry took a group of 50 people on Friday night, and another 68 on Saturday. The bus was decorated with Christmas lights inside and the group sang Christmas music along the way. “It was a joyful and energetic time,” she said.
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