LYNCHBURG, Va. (WSET) — Liberty University staff and students will join a historic mission on Sunday as the last U.S.-registered DC-8 cargo plane makes its final flight.
The aircraft departed on Saturday from the Samaritan’s Purse Airlift Response Center in Greensboro, N.C., stopping in hurricane-ravaged Jamaica to deliver 9,200 Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts before completing its last landing in Lynchburg on Sunday.
The gifts, packed by Liberty University students, faculty, staff and members of Thomas Road Baptist Church, include toys, school supplies and personal care items for children affected by Hurricane Melissa.
SEE ALSO: ‘It was intense’: Lynchburg man stuck in Jamaica during Hurricane Melissa
Over the past decade, the DC-8 has flown 218 missions and carried more than 9.2 million pounds of life-saving cargo.
Samaritan’s Purse recently gifted the aircraft to LU, and university officials said the plane will be placed on display as a symbol of how aviation can be used in service and ministry.
