It’s that time of year again, a time to open your heart and bring joy to the life of a child. The Operation Christmas Child season is gearing up to help you do just that at a new location – First Baptist Church.
“It’s shoebox time,” said Debbie Patterson, who organizes the local effort with Debra Young. “Our goal for this year is 3,400 shoeboxes. I would love 5,000 shoeboxes.”
A small shoebox can have a big impact. Since 1933, the Samaritan’s Purse project, Operation Christmas Child, has collected and delivered more than 124 million gift-filled shoeboxes to children in more than 150 countries and territories. In 2015, the goal is to collect enough shoebox gifts to reach another 11 million children.
There will be a change in the drop-off site this year. Rather than First United Methodist Church, participants are being asked to drop their shoeboxes off at First Baptist Church at 403 N. Spring Street. The week-long event is Nov. 16-23.
A kickoff banquet was held Thursday night at First Baptist Church in Cookeville. The guest speaker was Gwen Word, who traveled to Tanzania on a mission trip with Samaritan’s Purse to distribute boxes to children.
“I’m older than dirt and I’ve been packing shoeboxes forever,” said Word. “When we got to Tanzania, after 22 to 23 hours of travel, we were told to not expect it to be a regular mission trip. We were told to not expect an earth-shattering miracle when we go to hand out the shoeboxes.”
Word says one of her first interactions was with a little girl who started screaming and ran off as soon as she sat down beside her.
“It wasn’t very long before she came back, crawled into my lap and went to sleep,” said Word. “She slept during the whole program they gave. Just before they were ready to hand out the boxes, she woke up bright-eyed. We handed out the boxes. She came back and looked to see what she had in her box.”
Every day, the group went out and delivered shoeboxes to children. Word says she made a habit of asking children what thing they liked most within their box and one boy had a surprising response. 
“I asked him what he liked the most that came out of the box,” she said. “He held up a composition book. I guess we would call it a cheap composition book. It probably didn’t have 20 pages in it. We asked ‘Why did you like that?” He said, ‘Because I’m going to be important to my country one day. Now, I can go to school.’ They can’t go to school unless they have school supplies so remember that when you are filling shoeboxes. It will forever be etched in my memory and in my heart. They need school supplies.”
The shoeboxes are gender and age specific. Word says the children were gracious and thankful for everything in their shoeboxes, including a little girl who received a shoebox meant for a boy.
“I sat with her and asked her ‘What did you like the best that came out of that box?’ She said she liked the flashlight, the calculator and the composition book. She kept digging in the box. I’m sure all of you have seen the rubber band bracelets. There were two in the box. Before she even pulled them out, she asked ‘Which one do you want?’ I wear it every day.”
The effort requires volunteers. Word is among more than 500,000 volunteers worldwide, with more than 100,000 of those in the United States. Volunteers help with collecting, shipping and distributing shoeboxes.
If you would like to prepare a shoebox, a standard-size box will do or use a plastic shoe-sized container.
Brenda Spain, director coordinator for Operation Christmas Child, encourages the use of plastic containers because they are approximately $1 here but priceless there.
“The missionaries came back and told us that a little boy used the container and went to retrieve his mom some water from the well. Another momma was making peanut butter in a box that her little boy got. That’s why I like the use of plastic shoeboxes,” said Spain.
Determine whether your gift will be for a boy or a girl. Age categories are: 2-4, 5-9, and 10-14. Then fill the box with a variety of gifts that will bring delight to a child.
Suggested items include small cars, balls, dolls, kazoos, harmonicas, yo-yos, jump ropes, Slinky, toothbrush, toothpaste, mild bar soap in a plastic bag, comb, washcloth, hard candy, T-shirts, socks, ball caps, hair clips, toy jewelry, watches, a sewing kit, a fishing kit and flashlights with extra batteries.
School supplies are always needed. Suggested items include pens, pencils, sharpeners, crayons, markers, stamps, writing pads or paper, solar calculators, coloring and picture books.
Do not include used or damaged items, war-related items such as toy guns, knives or military figures, chocolate or food, out-of-date candy, liquids or lotions, medications or vitamins, breakable items such as snow globes or glass containers, aerosol cans, or items not appropriate for children.
Wrap the box lid separately, but wrapping is not required. Please include a donation of $7 for each shoebox to help cover shipping. Drop it off at a collection site during collection week, Nov. 16-23.