Beginning Monday, First Baptist Church in Princeton will be collecting Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts for the Samaritan’s Purse project during National Collection Week, November 13 – 20.
According to spokeswoman Elise Svoboda with Land Between the Lakes, more than 4,500 locations will open to collect the shoebox gifts next week. She says Operation Christmas Child has been collecting and delivering shoebox gifts — filled with school supplies, personal care items and fun toys — to children worldwide since 1993. In 2023, Operation Christmas Child hopes to collect enough shoeboxes to reach another 11 million children.
Svoboda says individuals, families, and groups still have time to transform empty shoeboxes into fun gifts with local churches across the globe to deliver these tangible expressions of God’s love to children in need.
Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse says in a release “Children around the world need to know that God loves them and there is hope.” He adds that “a simple shoebox gift opens the door to sharing the true hope that can be found in Jesus Christ.”
Svoboda says The Land Between the Lakes area central drop-off location is at the First Baptist Church Christian Life Center in Princeton, located at 300 West Main Street. To access the central drop-off location, she asks that you use the Cave Street entrance for the life center and curbside drop-off will be at that location as well.
The drop-off times at the life center are Monday and Wednesday 9 a.m. until noon, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. until 1 p.m., Thursday 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., and Monday, November 20, 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan’s Purse, has collected and delivered more than 209 million gift-filled shoeboxes to children in more than 170 countries and territories. This year, Operation Christmas Child will celebrate its 30th year of ministry.
