Kick off your shoes, but save the boxes for annual Sumter gift collection

Operation Christmas Child starts collection this week in Sumter

Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts are distributed at Heaven's Kingdom Christian School in San Lorenzo, Paraguay.
Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts are distributed at Heaven's Kingdom Christian School in San Lorenzo, Paraguay.
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Nearly 5,000 drop-off locations across the nation, including Westside Baptist Church on Pinewood Road, opened Monday to collect millions of shoeboxes filled with gifts for children across the world during Operation Christmas Child's National Collection Week.

Samaritan's Purse, the parent organization, partners with local churches across the world to deliver those gifts - referred to as tangible expressions of God's love - to children affected by war, disease, disaster, poverty and famine, according to a news release.

Locally, Westside Baptist Church at 554 Pinewood Road will serve as the central drop-off location for Sumter, Bishopville, Turbeville, Manning and Kingstree.

More than 10,000 children heard God's love for them after receiving boxes sent from this region last year, said Karen Hill, an organizer for the project.

Samaritan's Purse estimates that one in every six children will come to know the Lord within five months of receiving a box, she said.

Volunteers are trying to be stewards of the Lord by telling of God's love, she said, and telling people they don't have to be good enough.

To participate, fill an average-size cardboard or plastic shoebox with toys, clothing, school supplies and personal care items for children ages 2 to 14. Personal notes and family or group photos can also be put inside the boxes.

Hill, who participates in the project with her husband, Craig, said this is Westside's 25th year with Operation Christmas Child and the church's third year serving as a drop-off location in about 15 years.

More than 100 volunteers, including Westside Christian Academy students, will help pack and store the donations at the church, she said. After the boxes have been collected, they will be delivered to Charlotte to be processed and eventually shipped around the world.

Operation Christmas Child is also an opportunity to meet and worship with new people in the county, Hill said, as well as work with others in the community who may not follow Christ yet.

It can make you speechless how much these gifts can affect a child, she said.

One year, Hill said, someone donated a box filled with socks that made its way to a child who needed multiple pairs of socks to heal his or her feet that were burned in a house fire.

Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has collected and delivered more than 157 million gift-filled shoeboxes to children in more than 160 countries and territories.

For a detailed list of the items to pack go to www.samaritanspurse.org/occ, or call Westside Baptist Church at (803) 775-3484. Fans of online shopping can browse www.samaritanspurse.org/buildonline to select gifts matched to a child's age and gender and can finish packing the virtual shoebox by adding a photo and personal note of encouragement.