Shoeboxes to fill holiday gift needs

Aiken's First Baptist Church is already piling up the presents coming in for this year's Operation Christmas Child gift drive.

"This program is about giving love and hope in a shoe box to children in about 100 different countries around the world that have experienced war, poverty, famine or natural disasters," said Dolores Clark, one of Operation Christmas Child's two coordinators at First Baptist. "We get gifts for children ages 2 to 14, girls and boys. Most of them have never received a gift of any kind, ever."

First Baptist is one of the drop-off sites for gifts coming in from churches, civic groups, schools and individuals across Aiken County. Operation Christmas Child is an international program, with participation in Australia, Austria, Germany, Canada, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland, England and the United States.

Gift packages include toys, school supplies and hygiene items appropriate for girls or boys in age categories 2 to 4, 5 to 9 and 10 to 14; collections are low for gift boxes in the 10-to-14 age category, according to First Baptist children's minister Vicky McCullough. The shoeboxes are wrapped with lids covered separately to lift off easily. They are affixed with an Operation Christmas Child label denoting the age and gender for which each is intended.

"First of all the package has to have something huggable, no matter what age it's for," Clark said.

Added McCullough, "They also encourage you to put colorful things in there. A lot of these children's lives are lacking much color."

Operation Christmas Child's National Collection Week will be Nov. 16-23. First Baptist plans a dedication ceremony for the shoeboxes on Nov. 22, and the Operation Christmas Child distribution center in Charlotte, N.C., will send a truck for them on Nov. 23.

First Baptist has in past years sent volunteer teams of youths and adults to Charlotte to assist in the distribution process.

Brochures with Operation Christmas Child guidelines are available at First Baptist Church, and there will be an information booth at the St. John's Apple Festival today. More information about the program is also available online at www.samaritanspurse.org/occ/.

Contact Suzanne Stone at sstone@aikenstandard.com.