Grace Community to collect Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes

As a participant in Operation Christmas Child, Grace Community Church will accept shoeboxes filled with toys, school supplies and hygiene items for needy children overseas from Nov. 12 through 19.

Operation Christmas Child is a year-round project of Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian relief and evangelical organization headed by Franklin Graham. Volunteers in Ramona hope to collect 600 filled shoeboxes this year.

Residents can drop off shoeboxes at Grace Community Church, 1234 Barger Place on:

•Monday through Friday, Nov. 12-16, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

•Saturday, Nov. 17, 9 to 11 a.m.

•Sunday, Nov. 18, noon to 3 p.m.

•Monday, Nov. 19, 9 to 10 a.m.

To contact the church, call 800-353-5949. For more information on Operation Christmas Child, call 714-432-7030 or visit samaritanspurse.org/occ. On the website participants can register their shoebox and track it to the destination country.

The shoeboxes are hand-delivered to children in 100 countries around the world. Since 1993, the program has given boxes to more than 100 million children.