While many Fayetteville families are busy with holiday activities, a group of local volunteers is focused on filling empty shoe boxes with school supplies, toys, hygiene items and notes of encouragement for needy kids overseas. Fayetteville families are participating in the world’s largest Christmas project of its kind — Operation Christmas Child — an effort that has hand-delivered 86 million gifts to kids worldwide since 1993.

This year-round project of Samaritan’s Purse is coming to its peak, as local businesses, churches and schools prepare to collect gift-filled shoe boxes during National Collection Week, Nov. 14-21. Volunteers can drop off their shoe box gifts at one of two locations in the area to help kids in 100 countries know they are loved and not forgotten.

Local collection sites include New Hope Baptist Church, 551 New Hope Rd., Fayetteville, and First Baptist Church of Jonesboro, 147 Church St., Jonesboro.

Collection hours at New Hope are:

Monday – 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Tuesday and Thursday – 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday and Friday – 9:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Saturday – 10:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Sunday – 1:30- 5 p.m.

Collection hours at Jonesboro First Baptist are:

Monday, Tuesday and Thursday – 9 a.m.- noon

Wednesday – 5 – 8 p.m.

Friday – 3-6 p.m.

Saturday – 10 a.m. – noon

Sunday – 2-4 p.m.

Operation Christmas Child, a project of international Christian relief and evangelism organization Samaritan’s Purse, uses whatever means necessary to reach suffering children around the world with gifts of hope, including sea containers, trucks, trains, airplanes, boats, camels and dog sleds. Tracking technology also allows donors to “follow” their box to the destination country where it will be hand-delivered to a child in need.

To register shoe box gifts and find out the destination country, use the “Follow Your Box” donation form found at www.samaritanspurse.org/occ.