Operation Christmas Child

Operation Christmas Child volunteers are collecting simple shoe box gifts which will be sorted and sent using whatever means necessary - sea containers, trucks, buses, trains, airplanes, helicopters, boats, camels, even dog sleds - to reach suffering children around the world.

This nonprofit organization hopes to bring Christmas around the world with its goal to collect more than 10,000 gift boxes.

Community members may join the effort by filling shoe boxes with school supplies, toys, necessity items, candy and a letter of encouragement. Step-by-step shoe box packing instructions are available at www.samaritanspurse.org. In central New York there are drop stations in Eaton, Liverpool, Canastota and Auburn. The Auburn station is the Church of the Nazarene on Genesee Street Road. Donna Buell, the wife of the church's pastor, is the local chairperson for the project.