Trussville military missions project goes churchwide

More than 200 10-inch cake boxes lined the front of the sanctuary at First Baptist Church, Trussville, July 26, ready to be sent as care packages. As the general of the Army National Guard’s Company F131st Aviation Regiment spoke, he told of what the unit is facing while stationed in Afghanistan.
About $2,500 was collected and toys were given, and at least 75 family members of soldiers saw that a church cared for their loved ones.
   
“It was just overwhelming,” said Connie Horsley, librarian at First, Trussville.
   
The service was the culmination of a churchwide summer missions project to send care packages to Company F131. Initially a project of the church’s summer reading program, participants sought sponsors to raise money or donated items for the care packages.
   
However, Pastor Gary Hollingsworth had other ideas.
   
“The preacher said ‘Let’s take this churchwide,’” Horsley said. And they did, asking church members to fill 250 10-inch cake boxes to create care packages for the unit. Some in the community also took boxes to fill when they heard about the project.
   
Once the list of soldiers’ names arrived, Horsley said only 213 care packages were needed, but the 250 boxes were filled anyway and surplus supplies added to the effort.
   
Each care package was assigned a soldier’s name, and those filling the boxes with toiletries, hard candy, Bible verses and sandwich bags to keep items sand-free, wrote a note to the one who would receive their box.
   
Horsley said the packages would also contain letters from herself, Hollingsworth and Alabama House of Representatives member Arthur Payne, who is a member of First, Trussville.
   
Once all the cake boxes had been taken, people still wanted to give, so Horsley began asking for toys for the children in the town where the unit is stationed. She said the soldiers will give out these and candy to build bridges with the Afghan people.
   
Horsley said it will take at least 40 shipping boxes and $2,500–$3,000 to send all of the care packages and supplies to the unit.
   
Company F131 is made up of men from across Alabama, with a majority coming from the Birmingham area. But none are members of First, Trussville, which further impressed their families when they saw what the church was doing, Horsley said.
   
One family member told her, “[The soldiers] expect packages from us, but they don’t expect packages from people they don’t know.”