By NANCY STRINGFIELD
Special to The Sun-Sentinel
The Samaritan’s Purse project, Operation Christmas Child, collects shoebox gifts filled with fun toys, school supplies and hygiene items and delivers them to children in need around the world to demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way.
For many of these children, the gift-filled shoebox is the first gift they have ever received.
Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child, the world’s largest Christmas project of its kind, has collected and delivered more than 220 million shoebox gifts to children in more than 170 countries and territories.
More than 11.3 million shoebox gifts were collected globally in 2023, 10 million from the U.S. alone. In 2024, Operation Christmas Child hopes to collect enough shoeboxes to reach another 12 million children.
Each child who receives a shoebox has the opportunity to participate in the 12-lesson discipleship course, The Greatest Journey. More than 20.2 million boys and girls have made decisions for Christ.
Anyone who is interested in learning more, or is already pack shoeboxes, is invited to one or all of the upcoming Operation Christmas Child workshops in the area.
Workshops will be a time of fun, fellowship and learning. There will be refreshments, door prizes and shoebox giveaways along with new resources. Come and bring a friend! Hope to see you there!
» Sept. 7: Charleston First Methodist Church, 10 a.m.
» Sept. 9: First Baptist Church, Lambert, 6 p.m.
» Sept. 14: First Baptist Church, Grenada, 10 a.m.
» Sept. 21: Oakhurst Baptist, Clarksdale, 9 a.m.
» Sept. 21: College Hill Heights Baptist Church, Oxford, 10 a.m.
» Sept. 28: First Baptist Church, Bruce, 10 a.m.
» Oct. 5: First Baptist Church, Water Valley, 9:30 a.m.
Also, everyone is invited to First Baptist Church in Batesville on Sept. 22 at 3 p.m. to hear speaker Deanne Dildy, who went on a distribution of shoeboxes this summer.
Let’s all get to work packing shoeboxes, as National Collection Week is Nov. 18-25 and will be here before we know it.
