Operation Christmas Child gears up for National Collection Week

By Jazmine Knight

A collection effort next week will help make Christmas brighter for children all around the world.

Operation Christmas Child is sponsored by Samaritan’s Purse and is a program where people take a simple shoe box and turn it into a gift for kids all around the world.

“Anyone can pack a box,” said Kristy Smith OCC St. Joseph’s Coordinator. “We can do individuals, we can do families, churches, students, other kinds of groups.”

According to OCC, when packing a box, the goal is to teach children about thankfulness while giving back to those in need.

“For many of the children who receive these boxes, this could be the very first gift that they would ever receive in their lifetime,” Smith said.

This year’s National Collection Week runs from Nov. 18 through the 25. Once items have been collected, they are processed and sorted, before being packed. Then after a few days, or even a few months, the children will receive their OCC box.

After a recent trip to Ecuador, Smith reflected on the opportunity to see the children open their OCC boxes for the first time. Smith stated that her favorite part of the recent trip was seeing the lives of those children change just by opening the lid on their OCC box.

“They will touch the heart of a child,” Smith said. “We just need to make sure that we touch as many hearts and lives for Jesus as we can, just through a simple shoe box.”

When packing an OCC shoebox, Smith states that she likes to start with a “wow” item.

“A wow item is just something that will get the child’s attention,” Smith said.

From there, Samaritan’s Purse members will include toys, school supplies, hygiene items and finally, a hand-written note for each child.

“That communication between the two of them, that can develop a deeper friendship throughout the years,” said Smith.

Samaritan’s Purse has been a ministry since 1993 and since its inception, Operation Christmas Child has sent out over 220 million shoeboxes to children in more than 170 countries.

In 2023, nearly 11.3 million boxes were collected globally with approximately 10 million coming from the United States alone.

For this year’s Operation Christmas Child, Samaritan’s Purse aims to collect 12 million boxes.

For those interested in participating in Operation Christmas Child’s National Collection Week, individuals have the opportunity to drop items off at any one of the four locations in St. Joseph.

The four drop off locations are Grace Calvary Chapel North, located at 17117 HWY 71, Green Valley Baptist Church, located at 3110 Cook Road, CrossPointe Community Church, located at 2501 South Belt HWY, and Journey Baptist Church, located at 5708 King Hill Avenue. Additionally, Samaritan’s Purse has designated specific drop off times for each location.

For Grace Calvary Chapel North, items can be dropped off at the following times:

Monday, Nov. 18th, Wednesday, Nov. 20th, Friday, Nov. 22nd, and Saturday, Nov. 23rd from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Tuesday, Nov. 19th, Thursday, Nov. 21st, and Saturday, Nov. 24th from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Monday, Nov. 25th from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.

For Green Valley Baptist Church, items can be dropped off at the following times:

Monday, Nov. 18th from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Tuesday, Nov. 19th through Friday, Nov. 22nd, and on Sunday, Nov. 24th from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 23rd from 9 a.m. to noon

Monday, Nov. 25th from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

For CrossPointe Community Church, items can be dropped off at the following times:

Monday, Nov. 18th from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Nov. 19th from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 20th from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Thursday, Nov. 21st and Friday, Nov. 22nd from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 23rd from 10 a.m. to noon

Sunday, Nov. 24th from noon to 2 p.m.

Monday, Nov. 25th from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Finally, for Journey Baptist Church, items can be dropped off at the following times:

Monday, Nov. 18th through Saturday, Nov. 23rd from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Sunday, Nov. 24th from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Monday, Nov. 25th from 8 a.m. to noon.

“You could drop off what you can, drop off 50 and drop off a hundred, whatever you would like to pack,” said Smith.

Additionally, individuals are invited to visit the Samaritan’s Purse website and pack an OCC box online.