Submitted to Sumner Newscow — Grace Baptist Fellowship at 305 N. Jefferson in Wellington is starting a Christmas campaign called “Fill A Shoe Box — Change A Life.”

Sending a shoe box filled with simple gifts to a needy child in one of over 100 countries around the world has been made easier this year.  Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan’s Purse headed by Franklin Graham, has set up a new relay center for the Wellington/Sumner County area.

Relay center Coordinator Nancy Staley has announced that Grace Baptist Fellowship, 305 N Jefferson in Wellington, will be serving as the new relay center. The center will be taking shoe boxes from groups and individual alike.

The hours for the relay center during Operation Christmas Child National Collection Week of November 12-19, 2012 will be as follows:

Monday, Nov 12: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.,

Tuesday, Nov 13: 5 -7 p.m.,

Wednesday, Nov 14: 5-7 p.m.,

Thursday, Nov 15: 11 a.m. -1 p.m.,

Friday, Nov 16  11 a.m. – 1 p.m.,

Saturday, Nov 17  10 a.m. -noon,

Sunday, Nov 18  5-6 p.m.

The final collection day is Monday, Nov 19  10 a.m. -noon.

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Operation Christmas Child has been collecting shoe box gifts for children around the world since 1993.  It expects to receive 9 million donated shoe box gifts during this year’s National Collection Week and to reach its goal of hand-delivering its 100 millionth shoe box after 20 years of operation. 

These shoe box gifts start with an ordinary shoe box or plastic shoe box for either a boy or girl, in age groups 2-4, 5-9 and 10-14, filled with simple items of toys, candy, school supplies, personal hygiene and other items.  For many of these children this will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience of receiving a personal Christmas gift. 

The children receiving these boxes live in countries that suffer from war, poverty, famine and disease.  The children may live in a cardboard house near a garbage dump searching for items to help support their family or be in an orphanage because they have lost their parents. 

It has been announced that boxes collected from the South Central Kansas area will be going to children in Mexico and the Philippines.

For more information about Operation Christmas Child, go online to:  www.samaritanspurse.org/occ.  For information about the relay center, please contact Nancy Staley, center coordinator 620-326-5631 or Grace Baptist Fellowship 620-326-6228 during collection hours.