Operation Christmas Child arrives in Lewiston

First Presbyterian Church in Lewiston has announced that, for the first time, it is a drop-off location for Operation Christmas Child. Items can be dropped off from Nov. 18-24 at 505 Cayuga St.

This worldwide outreach of Operation Christmas Child - a project of Samaritan's Purse - ministers to children in war-torn and famine-stricken countries. In just two decades, it has inspired everyday people to provide more than 100 million gift-filled shoeboxes to needy children in 130 countries.

If you would like to help a needy child in another part of the world, all you have to do is take a shoe box, decide on male or female and age (2-4, 5-9, 10-14), and fill it with items appropriate for the age you chose. If you like, wrap the shoe box with Christmas paper (top and bottom separately), put a rubber band around it and bring it to the church. There, church staff has specific labels for the boxes (or you can get them online). Samaritan's Purse does request, if possible, for participants to put a donation of $7 in the box to help offset the cost of shipping the box around the world. Boxes can be tracked online at the Operation Christmas Child website, http://www.samaritanspurse.org.

For more information, call the church at 716-754-4945 (Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.). All boxes need to be to the church by 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 24.

Boxes ready to be filled also can be picked up at Mangia Café, 621 Center St., Lewiston.