Operation Christmas Child provides joy around the world
Operation Christmas Child ships millions of shoeboxes each Christmas season, including thousands collected in a Butler County church.
Since the ministry began in 1993, more than 240 million children have received a shoebox. For many children, these shoeboxes are the first — and possibly the only — gifts they receive, which is why Lisa Levesque, regional director for Samaritan’s Purse’s Mid-Atlantic Region, encourages each gift to be fun, full and personalized.
Levesque added that after receiving their gifts, children are also invited to participate in The Greatest Journey. This 12-lesson discipleship program has enrolled more than 52 million children since its launch in 2009.
According to Rege Judy, coordinator of Operation Christmas Child at Community Alliance Church, the mission is to share God’s love in a tangible way with children in need around the world.
The U.S. is one of the largest contributors to this cause, according to Judy.
“The United States provides 90% of the shoeboxes every year, which shows how generous the U.S. is; so I think it is important for the younger people to understand that we have great people here who really care,” Judy said.
When people pack shoeboxes, they may not think much about where the gifts will end up, but getting them to their destinations is a lengthy process, and many don’t arrive until the summer.
According to Judy, the process begins at the local level, with people from churches and community organizations coming together to fill the boxes. Items are selected based on the age and gender of the child who will receive each shoebox.
“Churches and organizations will collect the shoeboxes, which can be from Samaritan’s Purse, or you can bring your own shoebox, and a lot of local churches will have packing parties, which is a chance to enjoy a social time and to give back,” he said.
Once the boxes are filled with toys, hygiene items, clothing and school supplies from a suggested items list, they are collected and taken to drop-off locations, each of which has a team leader.
Once the shoeboxes are collected, they are packed into cartons that hold around 15 boxes each. The cartons are then transported to a central drop-off location.
The central drop-off location for Butler and Armstrong counties is Community Alliance Church, 800 Mercer Road in Center Township. During National Collection Week, which this year is Nov. 16 to 23, tractor-trailers arrive to pick up the cartons and transport them to a processing center in Baltimore.
“The cartons are then organized by age and sex for distribution, and the cartons that we pack are the ones that end up in those different countries they are sent to by ship or by plane,” Judy said.
According to Judy, the local impact can also be seen in Butler and Armstrong counties, which have a total of nine drop-off locations: Community Alliance Church, Walkchalk Salem Baptist Church, Zion Methodist Community Church, Friendship Presbyterian Church Community Center, Chicora Alliance Church, Three Rivers Church, Advance Community Church, Grace Church of Harmony and Apollo Free Methodist Church.
Judy added that 11 countries participate in Operation Christmas Child: Australia, Austria, Canada, Finland, Germany, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and U.S.
“Last year, in 2025, the collection from those 11 countries was 12.2 million, and, of those, over 900,000 came from the United States,” he said. “The Mid-Atlantic region, which Butler is part of along with parts of New Jersey, contributed over 600,000 shoeboxes.”
According to Levesque, the 674,678 shoeboxes packed in the region came from 4,800 churches, along with individual donors. She added that the region has set a goal of collecting 708,141 shoeboxes this year.
“One of the things our pastor, Joe Floris, says is, ‘I want this service opportunity to do two things,’ which are connecting church members together and giving them an outlet to impact evangelism around the world, so locally it gives churches a time to build community,” Judy said.
