Operation Christmas Child's goal set at 1,000 shoe boxes

Christmas is arriving early in Seymour, as Calvary Baptist Church prepares to serve as a collection point for Operation Christmas Child. Soon, with the help of Seymour volunteers, the church will have numerous wrapped shoe boxes full of gifts.

Through Operation Christmas Child, the world’s largest Christmas project, Seymour residents are packing shoe box gifts for children in more than 100 countries suffering from natural disaster, war, terrorism, disease, famine and poverty.

From Seymour, the shoe box gifts will be sorted and sent using whatever means necessary — sea containers, trucks, trains, airplanes, boats, camels, even dog sleds — to reach suffering children around the world.

“Operation Christmas Child is a unique opportunity to do something as simple as packing a shoe box that will have a lasting impact on a child a world away,” said Chris Bounds, local Operation Christmas Child drop-off site coordinator. “We are excited about the 2009 collection season as community members have already begun packing shoe box gifts.”

Operation Christmas Child uses tracking technology that allows donors to “follow your box” to the destination country where it will be hand-delivered to a child in need. To register shoe box gifts and find out what country they are delivered to, use the EZ Give donation form found at www.samaritanspurse.org.

In 2008, the Seymour area contributed 566 shoe box gifts to the Operation Christmas Child effort. This year, organizers hope to collect 1,000 gift-filled shoe boxes from families, kids, churches, schools and civic organizations in the area.

Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child, a project of international Christian relief and evangelism organization Samaritan’s Purse, headed by Franklin Graham, has delivered more than 69 million gift-filled shoe boxes to needy children in some 130 countries.

Here’s what you can do to get involved:

Prepare: Enlist families, churches, scout troops, community groups and businesses to take part in creating shoe box gifts for needy children worldwide.

Pack: Fill shoe boxes with school supplies, toys, necessity items, hard candy and a letter of encouragement. Step-by-step shoe box packing instructions are available at www.samaritanspurse.org.

Process: Sign up to join Operation Christmas Child volunteers at collection sites in Seymour as part of the effort to prepare millions of shoe box gifts for delivery to underprivileged kids on six continents.

For more information on how to participate in Operation Christmas Child, call (937) 374-0761 or visit www.samaritanspurse.org.

National Collection Week is Nov. 16-23.

Local collection site

Calvary Baptist Church

1202 N. Ewing St.

Seymour

(800) 419-8594

Times

Nov. 16: 6 p.m.-8 p.m.

Nov. 17: 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m.

Nov. 18: 6 p.m.-8 p.m.

Nov. 19: by appointment only

Nov. 20: 4 p.m.-6 p.m.

Nov. 21: by appointment only

Nov. 22: Noon-3 p.m.