Florence church collects Christmas for children abroad

FLORENCE — Though the number of shoeboxes stacked in the 18-wheeler’s trailer was impressive Wednesday, work has just begun for Operation Christmas Child volunteers.

Each year, they offer up their time to help process thousands of gift packages filled and donated by supporters of the international Samaritan’s Purse charitable project.

College Park Baptist Church once again will be the process point for collections from nine relay centers in the Pee Dee. Volunteers will pack the trucks and send them on to Charlotte, N.C. From there, the shoeboxes will be sent to children in some of the poorest parts in the world.

“Normally, we do about five to five and a half truckloads, and we send them out as we fill them up,” said Janice King, a collection center coordinator at College Park Baptist Church.

College Park has served as an Operation Christmas Child central collection center for 11 years. King, who has been involved in the all-volunteer project since its inception, said it started as a request from an Operation Christmas Child representative.

“Our church members are encouraged to bring in a certain item each month such as toothbrushes or toys,” King said. “In October, everything is collected together and wrapped.”

Interest in the project has grown substantially each year.

“The first year, we collected 3,000 boxes, and last year we collected 18,354 boxes,” King said.

She estimated this year’s collections would be nearly 20,000 boxes.

Volunteer Linda Jeffords said that while most of the boxes come from relay centers such as churches and schools, a considerable number comes from individual donors.

“We had some people come up with bags of stuff,” she said. “One family comes up with around 400 boxes. They (collect items) all year.”

Along with toys, candy and hygiene items, Jeffords said, some contributors enjoy personalizing their packages.

“A lot of people put their name and address and picture in the box, and a lot of people get letters,” she said. “(This) is a way for us to be missionaries to other countries, to help hurting children in other countries.”

Jeffords said she constantly hears stories of how Operation Christmas Child has helped children in hurting countries.

“A 25-year-old woman from the Ukraine still has the bubble gum wrapper with ‘Made in the U.S.A.’ inscribed on it that she received in a gift box when she was 12 years old,” she said.

Operation Christmas Child was started in 1990 in Wales by Briton David Cooke. The project was adopted by Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical Christian relief organization, in 1993.

Every year, the project collects gift-filled shoe boxes and delivers them to children in the poorest sections of the world. In 2007, the project delivered more than 7 million shoe boxes to more than 110 countries.

Donations are being accepted through Monday. Volunteers will be available from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday at the church, located at 1501 Third Loop Road, in Florence.

Shoeboxes can also be dropped off at Weichert Realty, 901 Second Loop Road, Florence, or any other relay site.

Call Dave at (843) 992-4354 or the church office at (843) 669-2148 for more information.