Youngstown-area children help needy, fill shoeboxes

YOUNGSTOWN

Children in the Mahoning Valley Youngstown area have not only been filling book bags and closets with back-to-school items, but they also have been filling shoeboxes with items to help children in need around the world.

Volunteers are encouraged to fill shoeboxes with toys, necessity items, school supplies, candy and hand-written notes of encouragement.

The boxes will be distributed to children worldwide who are suffering due to natural disasters, disease, war, terrorism, famine and poverty.

Operation Christmas Child is a year-round project, requiring months of organization and preparation. Since 1993 it has distributed shoe box gifts to more than 77 million children in some 130 countries.

For more information call 937-374-0761 or visit www.samaritanspurse.org. The national collection week for shoe boxes is Nov. 15-22; however, the boxes are collected all year at Samaritan’s Purse headquarters in Boone, N.C.