While many Albert Lea families are busy with holiday activities, a group of local volunteers is focused on filling empty shoe boxes with school supplies, toys, hygiene items and notes of encouragement for needy kids overseas. Albert Lea families are participating in the world’s largest Christmas project of its kind – Operation Christmas Child– an effort that has hand-delivered 86 million gifts to kids worldwide since 1993.

This year-round project of Samaritan’s Purse is coming to its peak, as local businesses, churches and schools prepare to collect gift-filled shoe boxes during National Collection Week, Nov. 14 through 21. Volunteers can drop off their shoe box gifts at one location in the area to help kids in 100 countries know they are loved and not forgotten.

Local collection site:

First Baptist Church

335 W Clark Street

Albert Lea, MN 56007

Operating hours:

Monday through Friday, Nov. 18, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 19, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 20, noon to 2 p.m., and Monday, Nov. 21, 10 a.m. to noon.

Operation Christmas Child, a project of international Christian relief and evangelism organization Samaritan’s Purse, uses whatever means necessary to reach suffering children around the world with these gifts of hope, including sea containers, trucks, trains, airplanes, boats, camels and dog sleds. Tracking technology also allows donors to “follow” their box to the destination country where it will be hand-delivered to a child in need. To register shoe box gifts and find out the destination country, use the Follow Your Box donation form found at www.samaritanspurse.org/occ.

What you can do to get involved:

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

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

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

For more information on how to participate in Operation Christmas Child, call (612) 359-7025 or visit www.samaritanspurse.org/occ. National Collection Week for gift-filled shoe boxes is Nov. 14-21; however, shoe box gifts are collected all year at the Samaritan’s Purse headquarters in Boone, N.C.