Faith, fellowship and filling buckets

On a November afternoon, Tonia Martin stood at a table — an assembly line of sorts — set up in the gymnasium of her church. On her left was a stack of large black buckets, each packed with four colorful, neatly rolled towels. Swiftly, she picked up one bucket after the other, placing four bars of laundry soap in each one before passing them to the volunteer to her right, who added shampoo then passed the bucket down the line. She worked diligently, her eyes fixated on the soap and buckets in front of her. 

Then, she took a moment to look up and around the gym. 

About 100 volunteers — congregants from Pleasant View Mennonite Church and friends and neighbors from around Hydro, Oklahoma — had gathered. Working in three assembly lines, they packed essential hygiene items into MCC relief kits. She rejoiced at the sight of everyone pitching in to help families around the world.

“As you just see everybody working together, the lines of people each doing their job, it’s just such a great representation [of the fact that] we bring different gifts to the world. … Together we can accomplish something pretty incredible.”

On Nov. 15, 2025, over the course of two hours, volunteers lovingly assembled 2,018 MCC relief kits.

When the church first set out to pack relief kits four years ago, they started with a goal of 400 kits, then packed another 600 later that year. “We thought we were doing so many, we declared it ‘the year of the bucket,’” remarks Delvin Mast, who attends Pleasant View and has led the planning of the event each year. The group packed 1,560 kits in year two and again in year three. Over time, he and the other event planners have found ways to streamline the process, from raising funds for hygiene items and making online purchases, to day-of logistics.

In 2025, fundraising began in August and wrapped up by October. From there, a small group of volunteers, including Martin, began buying towels, toothbrushes and more. The buyers did extensive research to find the best prices. Often, this meant buying in bulk — but not always. Towels, for example, were purchased in smaller amounts across time, so that the team could accrue and spend department store loyalty rewards as efficiently as possible.

It’s a lot of orders to keep track of, Martin says. “I make a big spreadsheet and keep track of all the orders that I’ve made and how many have come in.”

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Thanks in part to the systems they put in place, the team was able to set a goal of 500 kits for year two, then 1,500 the following year, before getting to the point where they could pack over 2,000 kits in a single night. 

By the time volunteers arrived for the big day, event organizers had all the items laid out along the assembly lines. That way, people could jump right into different jobs, from packing items in kits to securing bucket lids with mallets. A group of children excitedly ran packed kits outside to the MCC Central States truck, which was there to take kits to the Material Resources Center in Ephrata, Pennsylvania.

As items made their way from shipping boxes into relief kits, Anthony Peachy helped break down cardboard and take it outside. “It was a packed house, especially at the start. So it was important to keep pathways cleared.”

Joining Peachy were five of his children, including a baby, who spent part of the day on his back. “I love the example it is for my children to see a community come together and serve others,” he says. “And I hope they learn to value that and hope they enjoy it as much as I do.”

Reggie Miller, meanwhile, served as a floating volunteer, ready to jump in wherever needed. He and his family previously served in Guatemala, Panama and the Philippines, and Miller welcomed the chance to continue helping people around the world, right at home. “I’ve always had a heart for overseas missions,” Miller shares. “This is just a little bit of a chance for me to get back into that mission.”

The relief kits that Miller and other volunteers packed will touch the lives of families across the globe.

In places where war, economic downturns and disasters like storms have made basic hygiene supplies prohibitively expensive for many families, items like soap, towels and toothbrushes help people stay clean and healthy. And they let families know that someone across the world is thinking of them. Between April 2024 and March 2025, MCC shipped 21,401 relief kits to Cuba, Malawi, Gaza, Ukraine and Zambia.

Packing relief kits, Martin says, speaks into values shared within the Pleasant View community. “It’s a way that we can put our faith into action. … This is one way that we can work with our hands and send those representations of God’s love to those who need it.” 

People come out to pack kits for these reasons, Mast says — but also view it as a chance to socialize and have fun. “I think we enjoy packing buckets together just because it is part of congregational life. You build relationships, you talk to people you don’t always talk to,” he reflects.

“I think my favorite part of the whole project is just the working together.”