November 18 through 25 is the National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.
About this time of year residents purchase small toys, hygiene items, school supplies and special wow items with the sole purpose of sharing gifts, sharing love and sharing God’s Word via a shoebox.
Debbie Dockery, director of women’s ministry and worship leader at World Harvest Church North, is also a year-round volunteer for Samaritan’s Purse, Operation Christmas Child.
Dockery said she learned of Operation Christmas Child on a fall day in 1995. As she folded laundry, she watched Franklin Graham speak about the program on the television. “Reverend Graham said that it would be the first gift ever for most of these children. I told my husband, Asa, how this project had touched my heart, and that someone should do it in our area; he suggested that I do it.”
So, not long after that, Dockery began volunteering with the program and today she serves as the program’s Central Team Leader for the North Georgia Mountain Area Team which covers Fannin, Pickens, Gilmer, Union and Towns Counties.
Last year, she said 13,157 shoeboxes from this region were delivered to World Harvest Church North which were then delivered to the Southeast Region’s Processing Center in Atlanta. “My prayer is that each of you would consider getting involved. In 2019, Operation Christmas Child – the world’s largest Christmas project of its kind – hopes to collect enough shoeboxes to add another 11 million children (in more than 100 countries) to the 168,000,000 children who have already received a gift-filled box.”
Interested in packing a box? If so, here is how to do it, per the website recommendations.
•Find an average-size cardboard or plastic shoebox;
•Choose the age and gender. For example: a boy from two to four years old;
•Fill the box with gifts such as a stuffed animal or soccer ball with pump or clothing; personal care items, crafts, school supplies and a personal note;
•Pray for the child who will receive the gift;
•Donate $9 to get a “Follow Your Box” label to help cover shipping costs and learn the destination of the gift; and
•Drop the box off at a designated location during the collection week, November 18 through 25.
Officials warn folks not to include toothpaste, gum, used or damaged items, military figures, drink mixes, chocolate, food, seeds, fruit rolls, aerosol cans, liquids and lotions, medications, or anything breakable like snow globes.
According to the program website, Fannin County drop off locations for filled shoeboxes are World Harvest Church North, The Ridge Community Church and First Baptist Church of McCaysville/Copperhill.
Dockery said, “If your church or other community organization is not involved in this project, I will be happy to provide you with all that you need to present it to them … maybe even provide you with some special shoeboxes.”
The mission of Operation Christmas Child, according to its website, is to “provide local partners around the world with shoeboxes filled with small toys, hygiene items, and school supplies as a means of reaching out to children in their own communities with the Good News of Jesus Christ. We ship these simple gifts outside the United States to children affected by war, poverty, natural disaster, famine, and disease; and to children living on Native American reservations in the U.S.”
Call Dockery at 706-374-6175 with any questions or to learn more about the cause. She said, “Together we can delight and spark hope in the lives of children as they hear of God’s love for them.”