Bayside packs gifts for Zimbabwe

At its East County campus, Bayside Community Church staff and members collected containers full of toys and school supplies and packed them in boxes to be sent to schools in Zimbabwe.

Nearly 70 churchgoers packed a truck Tuesday with 3,200 containers filled with goods for elementary school students who attend two schools in Cowdray Park, Zimbabwe, an impoverished neighborhood outside Bulawayo, the second largest city in the country.

From here, the goods will be trucked to Miami and then to Charleston, S.C. From there, the boxes will float by boat to Durban, South Africa, before they are trucked to Bulawayo, and, then, to the schools.

The transportation process is so involved that the goods will not arrive until Christmastime.

The first-time event occurred at each of Bayside’s three campuses.

Bayside calls the effort "Christmas in July."

Pastor Randy Bezet and others will fly to the schools the second week in December to throw a Christmas party for the students, who will receive the gifts at that time.

The effort is part of a movement to create a presence in Zimbabwe, where Bayside officials are working to start a campus.

Contact Josh Siegel at [email protected].