By Billy Davis
An estimated 8 million gift-filled shoeboxes packed with toys and toiletries will find their way into a needy child’s hands in the coming year.

A portion of those shoeboxes, destined for children in 130 countries, will come from Panolians.  

The collection and distribution of the gift-filled boxes is known as Operation Christmas Child, an annual project of Samaritan’s Purse, which is headed by evangelist Franklin Graham.

Samaritan’s Purse, through volunteer efforts, has distributed 69 million gift-filled shoes boxes since 1993.  

Last year, a half-million shoeboxes came from Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama, which form the Southeast Region of a well-organized collection circuit.

 The Southeast’s half-million shoeboxes are trucked to Atlanta annually, where most of them will be distributed to children in India, according to a spokesman in Atlanta.

Panola Countians contributed 1,783 shoeboxes in 2008, and local volunteers are hoping to beat that number this year with 2,000 gift-filled boxes.

But that plan may fall short – way short. By Thursday at press time, Panola Countians had contributed only 1,002 shoeboxes, according to a volunteer.  

The shoebox collection drive, which began November 16, ends this Sunday.

 “They’re coming in slow this time,” said Katie Brewer, who serves as Panola County’s relay center coordinator for Operation Christmas Child.

Brewer attends First Baptist Church of Batesville, which serves as a drop-off location for shoeboxes in Panola County. Neighboring locations are in Oxford and Clarksdale.

At the church’s family life center, Brewer and other volunteers are stacking shoeboxes, usually 13 at a time, into large cardboard boxes provided by Samaritan’s Purse.

The cardboard boxes, loaded with shoeboxes, will be loaded late Sunday afternoon and transported to a Hernando church for the trip to Atlanta, Brewer said.

At the Atlanta site, volunteers there will sort through the boxes to remove prohibited items – toy guns, and liquids such as shampoo and soap. If a shoebox lacks a fair amount of gifts, the Atlanta volunteers will add “extras” to the box.  

Requested items include toys such as games, puzzles, toy cars and trucks, balls, and toiletries such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, hair brushes and combs, and bars of soap.

The shoeboxes are labeled for a boy or girl and according to ages – 2-4, 5-9, or 10-14.

Like the Atlanta spokesman, Brewer said the Batesville-to-Hernando-to-Atlanta boxes will be sent to children in India.

Although the number of gift boxes has yet to break 2,000, there is still good news: it’s not Sunday yet.

There’s still time to fill a shoebox and drop it off.

Brewer said First Baptist is serving as Panola County’s relay center for the third consecutive year after being asked to do so by Operation Christmas Child. Before then, boxes were taken to Oxford, which was then the closest relay location.

 To oversee the shoebox collection, Brewer attended training by Operation Christmas Child along with co-volunteers Gwen McGregor and Jean Wilder.

“You get tired but it’s the most refreshing work you can do,” said Brewer.

“I wondered what God kept me here to do after I had major heart problems,” said Brewer, 73. “Now I know.”

She just needs 1,000 more boxes, by Sunday afternoon, to keep her busy.

For more information, visit Samaritanspurse.org.

First Baptist Church can be reached at 563-7655.