In the back, are: Karen Addleman, church relations volunteer; Karla Sunderlin, OCC West-Central PA area coordinator; Arianne Greslick, First Baptist Church, Curwensville, drop-off leader; Donna Daub, community relations volunteer; and Jessica Shirey, media relations volunteer.
(Provided photo)
CLEARFIELD – The Clearfield County Commissioners on Tuesday proclaimed Nov. 18-25 as National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child.
Operation Christmas Child is a year-round project of international Christian relief and evangelism organization Samaritan’s Purse that’s headed by missionary and evangelist Franklin Graham.
Churches, community groups, schools and individuals can fill shoeboxes with school supplies, toys, hygiene items and letters for children overseas to demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way.
Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child, the world’s largest Christmas project of its kind, has collected and delivered more than 168 million shoebox gifts to children in more than 160 countries and territories.
More than 10.6 million shoebox gifts were collected worldwide in 2018, with more than 8.8 million collected from across the United States.
“Our area goal is to pack 12,000 shoebox gifts this year,” shared Karla Sunderlin, West-Central PA area coordinator. “We need … the community to help us reach our goal.”
Commissioner John A. Sobel expressed, “… Operation Christmas Child brings a lot of happiness, a lot of joy to children throughout the world, not just here in the United States.”
In 2019, Operation Christmas Child hopes to collect enough shoebox gifts to reach another 11 million children in countries like Peru, the Philippines, Rwanda and Ukraine.
In addition to its ongoing outreach to more than 100 countries, the ministry plans to deliver shoebox gifts to more than a half-million children on 1,000 Pacific Islands over the next few years.
Individuals can learn how to pack a shoebox, view other gift suggestions, get a “Follow Your Box” label and find the nearest drop-off location at samaritanspurse.org/occ.