As the Thanksgiving season approaches, many families and children are giving thanks for all their blessings and sharing those blessings with children in need by packing shoeboxes with Operation Christmas Child.
Shoebox gifts are filled with toys, personal care items, and school supplies and may be dropped off during National Collection Week, now through Nov. 20. More than 4,500 drop-off sites are now open, including two in Wood County.
First Baptist Church, 749 S. Wintergarden Road, Bowling Green, will accept shoeboxes on Tuesday, 4-6 p.m.; Wednesday, 5-7 p.m.; Thursday, 5:30-7:30 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m.-noon; Saturday, noon-2 p.m.; Sunday, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; and Monday, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
First Baptist Church of Perrysburg, 590 W. South Boundary St., will accept shoebox donations Tuesday, 9 a.m.-noon; Wednesday and Thursday, noon-3 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 3-6 p.m.; Sunday, 1-4 p.m.; and Monday, noon-3 p.m.
Signs at each location will identify the drop off.
Operation Christmas Child has been collecting and delivering shoebox gifts to children worldwide for three decades. In 2023, Operation Christmas Child hopes to collect enough shoeboxes to reach another 11 million children.
The project of Samaritan’s Purse partners with local churches across the globe to deliver these tangible expressions of God’s love to children in need. Find a step-by-step guide packing a shoebox, go to https://samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/pack-a-shoe-box/.
“This season, children around the world need a tangible reminder that there is hope and that God loves them,” said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse. “Through these shoebox gifts packed with special items, children also receive the opportunity to hear about the eternal hope found in Jesus Christ.”
Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has collected and delivered more than 209 million gift-filled shoeboxes to children in more than 170 countries and territories.
