CONWAY — Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes that will be sent to children in more than 100 countries could be the only presents those children receive, said Dawn Wilson of Conway, collection-center coordinator for the Arkansas River Valley area.
Wilson said her church, Fellowship Bible Church, 1051 Hogan Lane in Conway, is the collection site again this year. The collection dates are Monday through noon Nov. 23.
“We cannot take a single box after noon on the 23rd,” she said. “Last year, we collected 11,060; this year, our goal is 12,200,” she said. Worldwide, the goal is 11 million.
Operation Christmas Child is a worldwide children’s project of Samaritan’s Purse that hand-delivers gift-filled shoeboxes to needy children. The countries have to be war-torn, poverty-stricken, diseased, one hit by a natural disaster — “any place where circumstances are really dire, basically,” Wilson said.
“We are working really hard as an organization [to promote a] one-box, one-child, one-lifetime mentality,” she said. “Think about doing your best when you pack a box; it could be the only gift they ever receive.”
School supplies “are really important,” she said. “A lot of kids are able to go to school because we put in pencils — and be sure to put a pencil sharpener in there — and paper, rulers and backpacks.”
Other ideas are hair accessories, T-shirts, socks, jewelry and toothbrushes.
“We’re trying to get everybody to put in a ‘wow item’ — a stuffed animal, a doll, jump rope, soccer ball and pump,” she said.
Items not allowed include breakable, war-related, liquid or food items, except for hard candy.
“They get a booklet called The Greatest Gift, and it’s the Gospel presentation. It’s not what’s in your box; it’s that Christ is here for you,” she said. Recipients are invited to participate in The Greatest Journey, a discipleship program in which children meet with teachers and have the story of Jesus presented to them in their language. Wilson said there is no coercion to participate in the 12-week program.
“We work with partners in the countries where we deliver them,” she said. “We’re not dropping a shoebox and never seeing their faces again.”
The project has gotten a big boost this year with the opening of the GO Store in The Ministry Center at 766 Harkrider St. in Conway.
Wilson said the store, which stands for Gospel Opportunity, is the brainchild of Erica and Andy Cason of Conway.
“She’s had a heart for this project, and she knows you can spend $25, $30 — or more. She has been buying in bulk all year,” Wilson said of Erica. For example, when flip-flops were on sale in Dollar General, “she cleaned out from here to Missouri,” Wilson said.
“She has done an unbelievable job; I can’t believe all the stuff she’s got in there — school supplies, cups, water bottles, T-shirts — there’s nothing I can think of that I would want to put in a box that she doesn’t have,” Wilson said.
Erica Cason said she and her husband are members of Fellowship Bible Church, and they bought in bulk for church shoebox packing parties.
“We would come across a bunch of deals — 10 of one thing, 20 of another thing,” Cason said. “At some point, you run out of funds to pack shoeboxes for your household.”
They decided to find those bargains and set up a central location for people to purchase the items to pack their shoeboxes.
“Our goal is to make stuff as cheap as possible so people can pack more boxes,” she said. “We just pay for it,” she said. “It’s something my husband and I have taken on as a ministry; it’s something we really believe in.”
She said The Ministry Center is allowing the GO Store to use the space rent-free.
“We have a ton of different stuff — everything from the hygiene items to stuffed animals to school supplies — just something we would consider to be a great deal and a great item,” she said.
Cason said she just reordered “little bitty” bars of soap, which sell for a dime each. She’s already sold 1,000.
One of the Samaritan’s Purse stories Cason said she heard was about a child who was happy to get his own washcloth in a shoebox because he lived in an orphanage where the children had to share a washcloth.
“What’s really stuck with me is there’s a lot of kids who aren’t able to attend school until they get a shoebox to have pencils and paper. That’s just unreal,” she said.
“That kind of stuff and the culture we live in, until you really think about those things outside your daily life, it’s just hard to believe, I guess,” Cason said.
She said the GO Store’s hours are posted on its Facebook page, www.facebook.com/occgostore.
Cason said the GO Store also has shoeboxes, but its supply is running low.
Wilson said the 1,500 empty shoeboxes that volunteers of her church wrapped have been given out. “Anybody can use any kind of shoebox — it does not have to be wrapped. We’re trying not to do boot boxes or big athletic-shoe boxes,” Wilson said. Clear-plastic shoeboxes can be used, too.
Wilson said the shoeboxes must not be taped; a rubber band is suggested to hold the box together. “They will take out any postage donations, and they’ll just look through the box to make sure there’s nothing that won’t clear customs,” she said.
A $7 shipping fee is requested (although that doesn’t really cover the cost, Wilson said), and a check may be made out to Samaritan’s Purse and placed in the box, or the donation can be made online at www.samaritanspurse.org. Wilson said no cash should be put in the box.
Families can send a photo of themselves and include their address. “I usually have a few people call me each year who have heard back [from the recipients],” Wilson said. Her family is sending 12 boxes this year.
Although donating online and getting a label can allow people to track their boxes, this year’s boxes will go to children in Mexico, Wilson said.
The packed boxes will go from Conway to North Carolina for processing, she said, then to Denver, Colorado, to be mailed out of the country.
For more information about the project or on how to pack a box, go to the Samaritan’s Purse website, www.samaritanspurse.org/occ, or contact Wilson at (501) 269-0434.
“I’ve had people calling me all week,” she said. “I think people are getting excited about it; it’s really catching on.”
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.