Beginning Nov. 18, four local drop-off stations throughout Hattiesburg, Petal and Sumrall will collect gifts for children for Operation Christmas Child, an initiative that sends toys, school supplies and hygiene items each year to more than 10 million children around the globe.
Operation Christmas Child, which is a program sponsored by Samaritan’s Purse International Relief, will hold its National Collection Week from Nov. 18-25. During that time, Hattiesburg-area residents can drop off shoeboxes filled with those goods at the following locations: Main Street Baptist Church in Hattiesburg, Petal-Harvey Baptist Church, First Baptist Church of Runnelstown or First Baptist Church in Sumrall.
“It doesn’t cost people very much to get simple toys (or other items) to put in here,” said Charles Kendrick, who is coordinating the effort at Petal-Harvey Baptist Church. “It’s unbelievable – if you’ve never seen a video of when children receive these boxes, it’s just powerful to see their excitement over stuff that my and your kids would probably throw away.”
Participants can put the items in any number of regular shoeboxes – or plastic shoeboxes purchased from organizations such as WalMart or Samaritan’s Purse – and bring them to the drop-off points. Operation Christmas Child staff will then put a gospel tract in each of the boxes and send them off to be processed on their way to needy children in countries throughout the world.
Volunteers will also donate boxes for those individuals that don’t have any.
“We try to get them in those (plastic or Samaritan’s Purse) boxes, but if you bring it in a shoebox, we’ll take it – that’s not a problem, and we’ll ship it just like it is,” Kendrick said. “The Lord has a way of utilizing whatever we have, so even if it comes in a little bag we’ll probably put it in a little box and ship it off.
“You can buy simple toys for different age groups, for boys or girls, whatever is appropriate for that age group.”
Individuals can also donate educational items such as pencils, writing pads or notebooks, in addition to hygiene items like toothbrushes, soap or washcloths.
“A lot of places don’t have anything like that,” Kendrick said. “A lot of times we’ll put empty bottles in there that they can use for water, because in some countries they don’t have any way to transport their water. So it’s a lot of little things they can use that don’t cost people very much to get.”
All the boxes collected in the vicinity are sent to a processing center in Atlanta – one of six in the United States – which is expected to process almost 2 million boxes this year.
“It’s all about sharing Jesus with people through a simple gift,” Kendrick said. “In the Petal area, we’ll collect … 6,000 boxes, and they’ll do about the same in Hattiesburg. So altogether, our region will do somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 to 12,000 boxes.”
All efforts for Operation Christmas Child are coordinated entirely by volunteers who give their time to the program.
“Everybody that works on it does it voluntarily, and we individually pay for the boxes and the material within them,” Kendrick said. “The money doesn’t come from Samaritan’s Purse, it doesn’t come from Operation Christmas Child – it comes from individuals.
“We all donate monies throughout the year to purchase items and boxes, and put money in to ship it, and all that’s paid for by volunteers.”
In addition to the four Hattiesburg-area sites, drop-off locations can also be found in Laurel, Columbia, Collins, and several other regional locations. A full list of drop-off locations and times can be found at www.samaritanspurse.org.
“One thing we’ve found over the years is that one box reaches that one child, but that one child then has a residual effect on at least 10 other people, either through his family or other relationships,” Kendrick said. “So that has a potential of reaching 10 or 11 people per box with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“And you can do this all roughly for $10 dollars, plus a little for shipping and handling, and for that amount of money, you can potentially reach 11 people with the gospel. That’s unheard of.”
