Volunteers collect shoe boxes of gifts for kids around the world

Dave Look is always looking to fill red-and-green shoe boxes.

Whether it's a pair of socks or a toy car, Look searches year-round for the best gifts to send around the world to children with few resources. He fits them in those shoe boxes as part of Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan's Purse, a Christian relief group headed by the Rev. Franklin Graham.

During national collection week, slated for Nov. 14 to 21, volunteers will gather shoe boxes filled with donated gifts and prepare them for their global journey to kids in about 100 countries.

“We're letting them know somebody cares,” said Look, who collects shoe boxes at a West Chicago drop-off site.

Last year, the Naperville man packed shoe boxes with a group of preschoolers. One of them asked Look whether the boxes would reach children by Christmas.

“Probably not,” Look recalled. “But they'll think it's Christmas.”

Shoe boxes can be filled with school supplies, clothes and hygiene products. Labels can be printed at www.samaritan.org/occ to designate whether the gifts are for girls or boys and to indicate their age group. A $7 check payable to Samaritan's Purse also can be included in the box to help pay for shipping costs.

If the cost is paid online, gift-givers can track where their shoe box arrives, said Beth Armes, Operation Christmas Child's regional director for the lower Midwest. After making the online donation, gift-givers can print a label with a bar code and attach it to their shoe box. Processing centers will scan the code, sending an email telling gift-givers their boxes' location.

Partnerships with foreign churches, hospitals and orphanages enable Operation Christmas Child to distribute the shoe boxes, Armes said. When children receive the boxes, they are invited to join a discipleship program.

The Kansas City woman said she's helped distribute shoe boxes to kids in Ecuador and other Latin American countries.

“They don't realize that everything in the box is for them,” Armes said. “I'm always struck by their humility.”

In her region, Armes hopes to collect 470,000 shoe boxes filled with gifts she described as “stocking stuffers.”

In West Chicago, Luella Cull volunteered her time and efforts because she knows some kids aren't as fortunate as hers.

“I'm blessed, and my whole family is blessed,” Cull said. “All my children are safe, and not everybody can say that. I can't give back enough.”

Operation Christmas Child drop-off locations

Bolingbrook: First Baptist Church, 314 E. Briarcliff Road. Hours: 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Nov. 14-17; 6-8 p.m. Nov. 18; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Nov. 19; 2-5 p.m. Nov. 20; 10-11 a.m. Nov. 21.

Geneva: Rejoice Lutheran Church, ON377 N. Mill Creek Drive. Hours: 9-11:30 a.m., 1:30-4:30 p.m. Nov. 14-15, 17-18; 9-11:30 a.m., 1:30-4:30 p.m., 7-8 p.m. Nov. 16; 9 a.m.-noon Nov. 19-20.

Grayslake: Crossroads Church, 1350 Route 137. Hours: 10 a.m.-noon, 6-8 p.m. Nov. 14, 18; 10 a.m.-noon Nov. 15, 17; 10 a.m.-noon, 4-7 p.m. Nov. 16; 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Nov. 19; 1-4 p.m. Nov. 20; 9-11 a.m. Nov. 21.

Lake Zurich: Harvest Bible Chapel, 225 Quentin Road. Hours: 10 a.m.-noon Nov. 14, 16; 5-8 p.m. Nov. 15, 17-18; 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Nov. 19; 2-8 p.m. Nov. 20.

Mount Prospect: St. Mark Lutheran Church, 200 S. Wille St. Hours: 10 a.m.-noon Nov. 14-15; 10 a.m.-noon, 6-8 p.m. Nov. 16-17; 10 a.m.-noon Nov. 18; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Nov. 19; noon-4 p.m. Nov. 20; 9-10 a.m. Nov. 21.

Naperville: Naperville Relay Center, located in the Oxford Bank, 2920 83rd St. Hours: 11 a.m.-1 p.m., 4-6 p.m. Nov. 14-18; 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Nov. 19; 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Nov. 20; 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Nov. 21.

St. Charles: Hosanna Lutheran Church, 36W925 Red Gate Road. Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Nov. 14-18; 5 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Nov. 19; 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Nov. 20; 10 a.m.-noon Nov. 21.

West Chicago: Stahelin Properties, 245 Roosevelt Road, Building 2, Units 14 and 15. Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Nov. 14-18; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Nov. 19; noon-5 p.m. Nov. 20; 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Nov. 21.