Local volunteers are collecting simple shoe box gifts personally packed by children, families, and individuals here in LaPlace. From LaPlace, the shoe box gifts will be sorted and sent using whatever means necessary—sea containers, trucks, buses, trains, airplanes, helicopters, boats, camels, even dog sleds—to reach suffering children around the world.

“Operation Christmas Child” is an important ministry that gives us the opportunity to pack gift filled shoe boxes for hurting children,” explains CheraKee Epperly, collection center coordinator for Operation Christmas Child. “These gifts may be the only gifts these children ever receive.”

LOCAL COLLECTION SITES:

First Baptist Church

120 Ormond Blvd.

La Place, LA 70068

(800) 676-8329

Hours:

Mon — Fri from 8:00 am – 2:00 pm, Sat from10:00 am – 2:00 pm, Sun from 9:00 am — Noon, Mon from 8:00 am — Noon.

Right now you can join the effort to help the world’s largest Christmas project hand-deliver some 8 million gift-filled shoe boxes to children in more than 90 countries suffering from natural disaster, war, terrorism, disease, famine, and poverty.

What you can do to get invovled is:

Enlist families, churches, scout troops, community groups and businesses to take part in creating shoe box gifts for needy children worldwide.

Fill shoe boxes with school supplies, toys, necessity items, candy and a letter of encouragement. Step-by-step shoe box packing instructions are available at www.samaritanspurse.org.

Sign up to join Operation Christmas Child volunteers at collection sites in La Place as part of the effort to prepare millions of shoe box gifts for delivery to underprivileged kids on six continents.

Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child, a project of international Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse headed by Franklin Graham, has delivered more than 61 million gift-filled shoe boxes to needy children in some 130 countries.

For more information on how to participate in Operation Christmas Child, call (985) 652-6219 or visit www.samaritanspurse.org. National Collection Week is Nov. 17-24.