By Blake Deshazo | The Selma Times-Journal

To many, a shoebox may just be a box, but to a child in need, it may be a Christmas blessing full of gifts.

The Selma Baptist Association will start collecting shoeboxes filled with goodies Monday to send to less fortunate children in countries across the world as part of Operation Christmas Child.

Sandra Canterbury, Relay Center Coordinator, has been working with the project for nearly 20 years.

“For the children to get these boxes, it just means so much to them,” she said. “It just warms my heart so much that these children get these boxes.”

Operation Christmas Child is a project put on by Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian organization that provides aid to people in need. The project started in 1993 and has delivered more than 135 million shoeboxes to children in 150 different countries.

The shoeboxes are filled with toys, school supplies, hygiene items and other gifts, and they can be made by anyone.

“All they have to do is go to the Operation Christmas Child website. It will tell them how to make a box, what you can put in there and what you can’t,” Canterbury said. “You don’t have to be affiliated with any certain denomination or church, just anyone can do it.”

Canterbury said the response in Selma each year is amazing.

“It is so humbling to see people bring shoeboxes to someone that they don’t know that’s going to get it,” she said. “A lot of times this is the first and only present these children get. A lot of them have never had a present before.”

Last year, Canterbury said more than 3,000 shoeboxes were dropped off and delivered in Selma.

The boxes also teach children about Jesus and Christianity. Canterbury said the boxes contain a copy of the Bible.

Boxes can be dropped off at the Selma Baptist Association, located at 2193 Broad St. Monday, Nov. 14 to Monday, Nov. 21. For more information, contact the Selma Baptist Association at 872-1640 or visit www.samaritanspurse.org/occ.