Operation Christmas Child Still Taking Christmas Boxes

There is still an opportunity to help Operation Christmas Child, an organization that sends shoeboxes filled with gifts to underserved children overseas.

Area Coordinator Lorie Berta said those boxes are filled both with necessities like school supplies and fun items like toys or stuffed animals. She said during National Collections Week, the Upper Cumberland created over 20,000 boxes to send to places like Ukraine and Burkina Faso.

“So with the way that we assist them with getting them things they need and want,” Berta said. “But it also expresses that somebody across the ocean who they’ll never meet cares for them and loves them just as Christ does.”

Berta said boxes are still being processed to be sent out, so there is still time to contribute a box. She said if you still would like to help, contact her and she can walk you through the steps and connect you to a processing center.

Berta said the National Operation Christmas Child organization will send boxes to about 120 countries. She said last year, the United States did more than 10 million boxes.

“But to see, as a parent, your child receiving school items so that they can go to school now,” Berta said. “When you see them get flashlights when you can’t provide light for them in the night, but somebody across the ocean gave them a Dollar General flashlight, but it means so much to them. Some of them even take the tool kits they get or their sewing kits and are able to help their parents with work or start a small business themselves.”