Operation Christmas Child (OCC) has put another extremely successful year of collecting donations for underprivileged children in impoverished countries throughout the world, according to local chairperson of the event, Kathy Conner.

Although Clinton and Cumberland counties, which operate together as part of the Lake Cumberland Area, didn’t quite reach its somewhat lofty goal of 2,000 shoeboxes, it did set yet another record for the number they did collect, donate and ship, that being some 1,865 boxes…up 169 boxes from the previous record set last year of 1,696 collections.

Cumberland County joins with Clinton County each year because it does not have a collection center of its own. For the past four years, Albany First Baptist Church has become a collection center for the shoebox drive and the event has grown each year.

Conner said Cumberland County had three churches and two individuals collecting boxes. Clinton County had some 16 churches participate this year, along with four private individuals, and Albany Woman’s Club, the Jr. Beta Club at Clinton County Middle School and the HOSA Club at the high school.

The shoeboxes are filled with small, but very useful and meaningful items such as toothpaste, soap, pencils, combs and many other items, including stuffed animals and toys that are delivered from the U.S. to over 125 counties around the world around the Christmas season.

Operation Christmas Child is a branch of the Christian ministry Samaritan’s Purse, founded by the Rev. Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Rev. Billy Graham.

An OCC “kick-off” event drew a packed house at the First Baptist Church back on August 31. The program is now in its eight overall year in the county, this being the fourth year for a relay outlet, that being the church.

The boxes traveled from Albany to a relay center at Beacon Hill in Somerset, then by semi-trailer to Boone, North Carolina, the primary collection center, prior to being shipped to the Philippines for precessing and from there to each of the countries that will receive the boxes.

Conner said that this year, Kentucky collections are marked for five countries, South Sudan, Rwanda, Botswana (all in Africa) and Columbia South America and the Ukraine in Eastern Europe. “We don’t know which of those countries our local boxes will end up,” she said.

Participation has slowly grown since Albany First Baptist became a local collection/relay center, going from 10 to 12 participation churches four years ago to the 16 total this year. Previously, the nearest relay center had been in Monticello, before the local church took on the task here.

Conner noted there were some 14 volunteers that put in a lot of hours for several days in helping box, prepare and eventually load the boxes. “We couldn’t have done it without them,” she added, noting that each volunteer worked two or three hours a day on the project.

Conner said the volunteers on collection week were: Robin Holcomb, Bobbye Girrin, Don Girrin, Paul Conner, Kathy Conner, Kailyn Conner, Jamie Escalante, Nikki Dominquez, Mildred Dominguez, Sidney Dominguez, Pedro Gonzalez, Gustavo Dominguez, Johnny DeRossett, Nicole Fulton, Darrell Murphy and Jimmy Britt.

She also thanked the many volunteers who helped load the truck following the Community Thanksgiving service on Sunday night.

She especially thanked Roger and Sherry Owens, who operate the Days of Grace Food Pantry, for using their van to haul the boxes to Somerset. “The van was completely packed…there was only a box or so that was put in the front seat and a separate vehicle was used to take the paperwork (that is kept up with each year) to Somerset,” Conner noted.

The boxes were collected the week of November 16-22 and although all were transported from local areas about a month before Christmas, due to the location of some countries, they may not receive them until long after Christmas, but it will still be Christmas to the children and their parents who receive them, at whatever time they arrive.

Conner said that even though the shoeboxes were primarily for children, their parents and other family members are also affected and can use products packed in the boxes. “For every one box sent, it has an effect on about five people,” she said.

Conner said Operation Christmas Child involves everyone and is something everyone can do, even year round. She said some people begin collecting small, needed items and toys one or two at a time from one year to the next to fill boxes. “Economically, it doesn’t cost a lot,” she said.

Individuals, churches, school groups and organizations are always welcome to take part and help a child somewhere in the world that may not have a Christmas otherwise. As Conner summed it up, Operation Christmas Child is like a “mission in a box.”