This holiday season, local residents are joining millions of people across the U.S. and around the world to fill empty shoeboxes with toys, school supplies and hygiene items for 11 million impoverished children. Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has collected more than 124 million shoebox gifts and delivered them to needy children.

During Operation Christmas Child’s National Collection Week, November 16–23, Coggin Avenue Baptist Church at 1715 Coggin in Brownwood will receive the packed boxes from the area. The shoebox gifts are then processed, prepared and delivered to children in more than 100 countries using whatever means necessary—trains, airplanes, boats, elephants, bikes and even dog sleds.

Anyone can participate in Operation Christmas Child. The time to pack a shoebox gift is now. For more information on how to participate in Operation Christmas Child, visit samaritanspurse.org or call (325) 646-1506.

Operation Christmas Child, a project of international Christian relief and evangelism organization Samaritan’s Purse, headed by Franklin Graham, is the world’s largest Christmas project of its kind. Through simple gifts and a message of hope, children learn they are loved and not forgotten. For many of these children, the shoebox gift will be the first gift they have ever received.

A year-round, online giving tool also conveniently allows anyone to build a box. By visiting the project’s website at samaritanspurse.org, participants can select a child’s age and gender, shop through an online selection of gifts, virtually “pack” an empty shoebox, and finish it off by writing a note of encouragement. Operation Christmas Child volunteers will pack the shoebox gifts and ship them on behalf of the donors.

Using special tracking technology, participants can also “follow” their shoebox and discover the country in which their gift will be delivered to a child in need. To register a shoebox gift, use the donation form online.

The 2015 Relay Center to drop off shoe boxes will be at Coggin Avenue Baptist Church in the CCC building at 1715 Coggin Avenue, Brownwood, Texas. The hours for the Relay Center are:

Monday, Nov. 16:  1 p.m. – 6 p.m.

Tuesday, Nov. 17:  4 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 18:  4 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Thursday, Nov. 19:  4 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 20:  1 p.m. – 6 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 21:  10 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 22:  3 p.m. – 6 p.m.

Monday, Nov. 23:  9:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.