As the holidays neared, Mililani High School’s Fellowship Club participated in a service project called Operation Christmas Child, which allowed club members to send gifts to children around the world.  They packed twelve shoe boxes full of items to help children in third world countries.

     “I like this service project because they make an effort to give to children during the most giving time of the year, which is Christmas,” Secretary senior Nina Quingua said. “And a lot of these children are not as fortunate as we are here, and these children have been affected by war, poverty, natural disasters, famine, disease, but it’s a good opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life.”

     The club usually does this project every year. Because of COVID-19, however, they had to do it virtually. Members could select the age range and gender of the recipient on the website Samaritan’s Purse. They filled the box with items like toys and toiletries. The gift could also be personalized with a photo of the member or a short message to the child. Before the gift was sent off, members made a suggested donation of $25 that helped Samaritan’s Purse buy the materials and ship it.

     “For our club, because I wanted to have a Fellowship Club goal page, I created a special page just for club members to see our progress as a club, so that specially is on our Google Classroom,” President senior Emma Lee said.

     The club was able to reach their goal of having twelve shoe boxes built. These gifts are being sent to children in countries like Africa and Indonesia.

     In addition to moving this service project online, the club had to accommodate their activities to virtual learning. They now meet every Tuesday on Webex for VIVAs, where speakers from churches give a message. The club would later break off into smaller groups to discuss the message. On Mondays and Fridays, the club participates in Bible studies as well, where they read a passage from the Bible and then talk about it.

     “I think the main thing that is missing is of course that in-person interaction,” Lee said. “The Fellowship Club is a club that places a lot of emphasis on relationship-building and just building new friendships and strengthening each other’s faith in God.”

     Despite the challenges that COVID-19 presents, the club is still trying to find ways to interact and do activities together. They are looking to continue doing more service projects in the future as well.

     “As of right now, we’re trying to find more ways for our club to interact with each other just because we don’t have a lot of interactions since it’s online and everyone’s a little awkward,” Vice President senior Leah Yanagisawa said. “But I think we are trying to plan for more in the future and we are trying to plan a community service project for next semester, but as of right now those details are not super clear.”

     The club will continue to give back to the community through service projects. For more information, visit the club’s Instagram, @mhs.fellowship.