CHRISTY AVERY
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 November 19, 2025

 NEW ALBANY – Christian Academy Indiana students saw the culmination of weeks of work Wednesday as K-12 students gathered to bless hundreds of shoeboxes that will be delivered to children in need around the world.

Around 1,200 students gathered in the gymnasium to pray and sing over the boxes of essential and recreational items collected to help people during the holiday season.

Anticipation swept across the crowd as students stomped in the bleachers, creating excitement for the final count: 775 boxes. Students filled the gym with cheers and applause.

“To be a part of kids’ lives is a privilege and an honor, and it’s also a challenging thing, but to be able to be a part of collaborating and watching them all come in here and bring their boxes and be so excited about it, it’s a very moving thing to see,” said Elementary Spiritual Life Director Wendy Wagoner.

Wagoner said students started gathering materials for boxes in October. Each box includes personal hygiene items and goods specifically requested by recipients, such as art supplies or stuffed animals. A list of ideas was provided to families by Operation Christmas Child, but Wagoner said staff encouraged students to think intentionally about what someone might need or want.

Wagoner said a challenge is to find ways to help younger students take initiative and ownership over identifying ways they can help others. Because the boxes are by kids, for kids, Wagoner said students gravitated toward the project to learn about the lives of their peers in other countries.

“I lived in Africa for 11 years, so they love to ask me questions about that, and we love to talk about how, even myself, we can’t go,” she said. “We can’t get on a plane because we have a job to do here. But it’s encouraging and cultivating that heart to have a desire to see needs and figure out how to meet them as best they can, to look out for others around them.”

The school has a personal connection to the drive: a parent, who lives in Romania, of a Christian Academy student received a box, and recently came to the school to speak to students about his experience.

“It’s been really encouraging with our students for them to understand all the different steps a shoebox can take to get to the other parts of the world,” Wagoner said.

First-graders and senior students will load the boxes Thursday before traveling to Graceland Church, where boxes will be finalized and packaged. After the boxes are sent, students will have the option to sign up for a 12-week discipleship where they can continue doing similar work.

Director of Bands Aleshia Shouse and a group of students played various worship songs, including “I Thank God” by Maverick City Music. Students sang along, holding hands and swaying to the music. They also assisted in leading a group prayer over each location boxes will go, including Europe, Africa, Asia, the Pacific Region and the Americas. Wagoner prayed the boxes would be agents that “shatter the darkness” and change lives.

Christian Academy Louisville school counselor Ty Barnett delivered a speech titled “The Greatest Gift,” focused around the value of not only material gifts, but faith and love.

Wagoner said staff and students do not know exactly where each box will be sent, but each one includes a scannable QR code to track its location. Boxes were stacked and placed Wednesday on a world map spread across the gym floor, representing where they might end up.

Christian Academy will host more drives for the holiday season, including food and sock drives starting when students return from Thanksgiving break and continuing until Christmas.

“I’m really proud of our kids and their heart for worship and just their desire to make a difference,” Wagoner said. “Obviously in the name of Jesus, of course, but in nature there’s a part of their character and who they’re becoming that’s just a leadership thing that we’re really proud of.”