Area churches collecting for Operation Christmas Child

Churches across the county are pitching in to bring Christmas to children in need throughout the world.

Amber Coulter

Barbara Spillman pours out candy to be placed boxes for Operation Christmas Child.

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Amber Coulter

Barbara Sharp, of Elizabethtown, makes sure all donated items fit in the boxes for Operation Christmas Child at Youngers Creek Baptist Church.

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Amber Coulter

Barbara Sharp, of Elizabethtown, and Barbara Spillman, who lives near Elizabethtown, prepare candy, toothpaste and toothbrushes to be sent to children in need throughout the world.

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Amber Coulter

Becky Hillard and Cheryl Morris, both of Elizabethtown, pack shoe boxes for shipping at Valley Creek Baptist Church.

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Amber Coulter

Sarah Holley, of Radcliff, helps load boxes. She thought packing the boxes showed families the good they’re doing.

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Amber Coulter

Holley packs some of the 9,000 boxes for Operation Christmas child that volunteers hope to collect.

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They are collecting donations until Monday for Operation Christmas Child.

That organization calls itself a global Christmas gift exchange project operated by Samaritan’s Purse, a nondenominational evangelical Christian humanitarian organization that assists people worldwide with physical needs alongside missionary work.

The project collects donated shoe boxes, or other containers that size, filled with candy, small toys, hygiene items, school supplies and other gifts to be sent to children throughout the world.

Organizers at the collection point at Valley Creek Baptist Church on Springfield Road in Elizabethtown hope to net about 9,000 boxes by Monday to send to a processing center.

Many of those boxes are coming from other churches throughout the county.

Volunteers at Youngers Creek Baptist Church put toothpaste and toothbrushes, candy and other goodies into boxes Friday.

They hope the church can take 400 boxes to Valley Creek before the cutoff.

Barbara Spillman, who lives near Elizabethtown, helped pour candy into the boxes.

“It’s such a good cause, she said

Spillman likes that the people who pass out the boxes talk to the recipients about Jesus.

Teresa Underwood of Elizabethtown, who helped load shoeboxes for shipment Monday, said some of the children who receive boxes will be getting gifts for the first time, and it exposes them to Christian teachings.

“I believe that you can change villages and you can change communities one shoebox at a time,” she said.

Valley Creek volunteer Cheryl Vowels of Elizabethtown said putting together boxes is a simple good deed that can involve all members of a family.

Sarah Holley of Radcliff said boxes are tangible, so families can more easily envision the good they’re doing.

Residents are encouraged to drop off boxes at the church until Monday. The organization requests no perishable items or anything that could melt in hot climates.

Using plastic containers gives recipients a reusable container for water, rice and other needs.

Amber Coulter can be reached at (270) 505-1746 or acoulter@thenewsenterprise.com.