This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Decatur Community Packing Shoebox Gifts for Operation Christmas Child

With the Holiday season just around the corner, being thankful and remembering those in need seems to be on everybody’s mind. This is also the time when families begin packing gift-filled shoeboxes for children in need all around the world through Samaritan’s Purses’ Operation Christmas Child.

This year in Decatur, Columbia Drive UMC on Columbia Drive and Briarlake Baptist Church on Lavista Road are serving as a drop-off location and they are collectively hoping to collect 2500 shoebox gifts from the local community to be shipped to orphans and children whose families can’t provide for their basic needs in impoverished and war-torn areas in Africa, South and Central America, Asia, and Eastern Europe.

Since it’s beginning in 1993, Operation Christmas Child has brought hope to over 100 million children living in desperate situations in120 different countries all around the world.

Many families have created new holiday traditions, encouraging their children to pick out the gifts to pack. For most of the children who receive the shoebox gifts, this gift will be the first they have ever received.

The story of Betty, a 10-year-old child in Uganda who received a shoebox gift through Operation Christmas Child, illustrates just how powerful this gift can be. Betty was visiting her cousin who invited her to the shoebox distribution. When she received a shoebox gift that day, she was so touched that tears began flowing from her eyes. When the volunteers asked her why she was crying, she said she could not believe all the items in the box belong to her. She shared a story of how she missed school for a week because she did not have a pencil to use.

For Betty and other children to receive shoeboxes, the power of a simple gift and a message of hope helps them understand that they are loved and not forgotten.

National Collection Week is November 18-25.

If your family would like to pack a shoebox for a needy child this year, you can drop-off your boxes at Columbia Drive UMC, 2067 Columbia Drive, Decatur 30032 or Briarlake Baptist Church, 3715 LaVista Road, Decatur 30033 from Monday, November 18 – Monday, November 25. Other drop off locations and a complete listing of drop-off times can be found here: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/drop-off-locations/.

More information on the program and instructions on how to pack a box are available at: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child.

You can also “follow your box” to see which country it goes to by clicking here: https://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/follow-your-box-iframe/.


We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Decatur-Avondale Estates