This Sunday Bannertown Baptist Church will host a kick-off service for Operation Christmas Child. The goal this year — to collect more than 3,000 shoeboxes full of supplies to send to needy children.

For the past several years, the church has participated in the Operation Christmas Child program founded by Samaritan’s Purse. The program ships the shoeboxes, generally filled with items such as toothbrushes, crayons, small toys and clothing items, to other nations. Once again, Bannertown Baptist will serve as a drop-off point for the boxes that will eventually be shipped to various locations in the United States and across the world.

A special service will be held at the church on Sunday at 6:35 p.m. Sarah Simpson, who organizes the local Operation Christmas Child effort along with her husband, Ronnie, said they chose an odd time for the service in order to get people’s attention. They are inviting all area churches of various denominations to participate. Sarah Simpson said they also encourage civic groups and people across Surry County to participate. Anybody is welcome.

“I think we are supposed to give back. God gives us so much. We need to give back,” she remarked.

April Butcher, who helps run the Charlotte Processing Center for shoeboxes, will be at the service to speak about the program. Sarah Simpson said the speaker will share her testimony of going overseas to distribute boxes. She will probably show a video of children receiving boxes. Butcher will also answer questions about how the program works and what people should put in the shoeboxes.

Some local people who have participated in the program will also speak at the special service. Sarah Simpson said there should also be some singing. The church will have promotional and informational materials about the program available, as well as a limited number of empty Samaritan’s Purse shoeboxes.

The church has held a kick-off service for the past few years, and last year Sarah Simpson said the church had around 400 in attendance. She hopes more attend this year.

Shelby McMillian is the director of the church’s Women’s Missionary Union. She has participated in the program and encourages others to come and learn about it as well. She said, “It puts in our mind that there’s children that don’t have anything ... And it makes you aware of how lucky you are to have what you’ve got.”

Last year, the church collected close to 3,000 shoeboxes during its collection week. The group wants to increase the amount this year, and the theme is for people to “do one more” than they did last year. According to Simpson, the national goal for the operation is to send 8.2 million shoeboxes overseas.

National Collection Week is Nov. 16-23, and volunteers will be at the church for a few hours each day during that period to collect boxes. They will make sure boxes have been labeled properly and are secure. Then the volunteers will package 12 to 15 shoeboxes into larger boxes and load them onto a truck. Someone has donated a truck for them to drive the boxes to Charlotte.

Some churches and individuals just donate money for Simpson and others to put together boxes or to help Samaritan’s Purse pay shipping costs. Samaritan’s Purse encourages people to put $7 in shoeboxes to help pay for shipping and other project costs.

On Dec. 11, 15 people from Bannertown Baptist will travel to the Charlotte Processing Center to help process shoeboxes from across the state. The volunteers will work from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. performing different tasks. Some people inspect boxes to make sure there are no items that will melt or break or that are inappropriate for children. Others repack the shoeboxes into larger boxes.

Simpson said the volunteers have a great time at the processing center. Music plays in the background as people work together, talk about the children they are helping, and say prayers over shoeboxes. “I felt happy,” she said.

Last year, Simpson and her husband put together 30 shoeboxes. She said she buys items throughout the year to put in the boxes so she doesn’t have to spend so much during the Christmas season. She said some great things to put in boxes are toothbrushes, toothpaste, socks, T-shirts, pencils, crayons, coloring books, matchbox cars and little dolls.

But Simpson said the organization believes that what a child receives in a shoebox is what they need. Simpson heard a story of a child that received a box full of socks. When the distributor offered to get the child another box, the child said no because he had prayed for socks. She said another person packed two of everything in a shoebox, and it was received by a mother who had twins.

“There’s a lot of stories like that ... We think that it’s destined to go to a certain place,” Simpson explained.

Shoeboxes are sent to needy boys and girls between the ages of 2 and 14. People may pack gifts for them in empty shoeboxes or a small plastic container. They can even wrap the box and lid if they would like. People may enclose a picture of their family and a note to the child.

After last year’s operation, the Simpsons received a letter back from a child in Ukraine who had received one of their boxes. “It’s just a blessing to think you’re helping children,” Simpson said.

Anyone who is interested in learning more about the project can visit samaritanspurse.org and click on the Operation Christmas Child link. To find out more about Bannertown Baptist’s efforts, contact the church at 786-5407.

Contact Meghann Evans at mevans@mtairynews.com or at 719-1952.