New Life Baptist taking part in Operation Christmas Child

Friday, November 11, 2011

While many Greencastle families are busy preparing for the holidays, a group of local volunteers is focused on filling empty shoeboxes with school supplies, toys, hygiene items and notes of encouragement for needy kids overseas.

Greencastle families are participating in the world's largest Christmas project of its kind -- Operation Christmas Child -- an effort that has hand-delivered 86 million gifts to kids worldwide since 1993.

New Life Baptist Church is filling and accepting shoeboxes to send to need kids overseas.

This year-round project of Samaritan's Purse is coming to its peak, as local businesses, churches and schools prepare to collect gift-filled shoe boxes during National Collection Week, Nov. 14-21.

New Life Baptist Church is located at 51 Ridgeway St. in Greencastle. The church will be accepting donations from 8 a.m.-noon each day from Monday, Nov. 14 through Monday, Nov. 21.

Operation Christmas Child, a project of international Christian relief and evangelism organization Samaritan's Purse, uses whatever means necessary to reach suffering children around the world with these gifts of hope, including sea containers, trucks, trains, airplanes, boats, camels and dog sleds.

Tracking technology also allows donors to "follow" their box to the destination country where it will be hand-delivered to a child in need. To register shoebox gifts and find out the destination country, use the Follow Your Box donation form found at www.samaritanspurse.org/occ.

For more information on how to participate in Operation Christmas Child, call (937) 374-0761 or visit www.samaritanspurse.org/occ.

National Collection Week for gift-filled shoeboxes is Nov. 14-21; however, shoe box gifts are collected all year at the Samaritan's Purse headquarters in Boone, N.C.

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