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Published Monday, November 09, 2009 in Local

Operation Christmas Child collection starts in Coweta on Nov. 16

By Winston Skinner

The Times-Herald

It's the second week in November, and Cowetans may be wondering how cold it will be in the morning, whether to make pumpkin or sweet potato pie for Thanksgiving and whether one of their Christmas presents might be delivered by camel.

For people preparing a box of toys and gifts for delivery to a youngster through Operation Christmas Child, a camel could be part of the process. Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has hand-delivered shoebox gifts to more than 69 million children in more than 130 countries.

A project of the international relief and evangelism organization Samaritan's Purse, headed by Franklin Graham, Operation Christmas Child uses whatever means necessary -- ships, trucks, buses, trains, airplanes, helicopters, boats, even camels, mules and dog sleds -- to get the boxes delivered.

Though Thanksgiving is still more than two weeks away, shoe box time is here. Boxes have to be gathered early enough to get them shipped to distant nations by Christmas.

Collection of the boxes will begin locally on Nov. 16 at the multi-purpose building at Unity Baptist Church. The collection center will be open from Nov. 16-20 and Nov. 23 from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., on Nov. 21 from 9 a.m.-noon and on Nov. 22 from 2-5 p.m.

Donnie Smith and Leesa Bates are chairing the Newnan-based collection effort this year, taking over from June Keeble who oversaw the project from its inception locally in 1995.

Bates and Smith said a new collection center has pulled away some of the areas that once brought boxes to Newnan. 'We have three less relay stations," Bates said.

Still, Bates said she hopes the number of boxes will remain steady -- or even grow. "We usually do around 30,000. I would like to see that number again," she said.

"Let's shoot high. I'd rather overshoot than undershoot it," Bates said of the goal. Bates has helped with the local OCC effort for 12 years, and Smith has been involved for a couple of years.

Neither Bates nor Smith were aware of major box collection efforts by new groups in the area this year. Most of the participants he has heard from "have always done it," Smith said.

The concept for Operation Christmas Child, the largest Christmas project on earth, is simple. Volunteers purchase toys, stuffed animals, school supplies and hard candy and place them into shoe boxes or boxes of a similar size. Samaritan's Purse asks for a $7 donation to cover the cost of sending each box, but will ship them with or without a monetary contribution.

The boxes are distributed through churches in countries around the world. For many children, the OCC box is their only Christmas gift.

For several years, OCC was instantly identified by the green-and-red boxes with the Operation Christmas Child logo. The boxes were donated, however, and rising costs have led to a limited number of those boxes being available.

People can, however, use an ordinary shoebox. If they want to wrap the box, the lid should be wrapped separately. When boxes are complete, they should be secured with a rubber band. The boxes must be opened at the processing center.

Plastic shoe box-sized containers can also be inexpensively purchased. They can be used for OCC, and the container itself is often useful to a child or family overseas.

Givers decide whether to prepare a box for a boy or girl and choose an age category -- 2-4, 5-9 or 10-14.

Some 8 million children in more than 100 countries on six continents will receive personal, gift-filled shoe boxes through the project, according to Samaritan's Purse.

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