WINNSBORO – For many children in developing countries, there will be no soccer ball, no stuffed animal, no Christmas joy, without Operation Christmas Child, an annual global nonprofit program that provides Christmas shoebox gifts for children in poor and developing countries around the world. This year’s local Christmas Child workshop for Fairfield, Richland and Kershaw Counties launched in September at the First Baptist Church in Winnsboro.
More than 70 people attended the workshop – representing 27 churches and one business – and took shoeboxes with them to fill and return for shipment around the world. Those shoeboxes will be filled with age-appropriate gifts and must be returned to the First Baptist Church during the Nov. 13 – 20 collection week to be sent to Charlotte for worldwide distribution.
There are specific guidelines for the kinds of gifts to pack and what not to pack. Many of the gifts for the shoeboxes can be picked up at Dollar Tree. As an optional resource, Operation Christmas Child now has an Amazon storefront with quality appropriate items that are recommended for the shoeboxes.
The items, such as a stuffed animal or a deflated soccer ball with pump that can fit into the box and still leave room for other items, can be purchased online at www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/.
A group of volunteer leaders from Winnsboro First Baptist Church will be on hand to lead the process during National Collection Week to collect shoeboxes.
The church is located at 1373 Newberry Road in Winnsboro.
