Necessities Find Place on Christmas List

Toothpaste and soap may not be high on American children’s Christmas lists, but county churchgoers are banking on kids in war-torn countries welcoming those items--along with the more traditional Barbies and Legos.

Scores of county congregations are among thousands around the country taking part in Operation Christmas Child, which hopes to distribute 3 million gift-filled shoe boxes around the world this year, 400,000 of them to Kosovo.

Operation Christmas Child is a project of the international Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse, headed by Franklin Graham, son of the Rev. Billy Graham.

Volunteers in Ventura County are joining hundreds of thousands in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia who are filling the boxes with toys and necessities such as flashlights, school supplies and hygiene products.

“We provide things our kids take for granted,” said Dave Wilkinson, pastor of Moorpark Presbyterian Church.

“If our kids got toothpaste for Christmas, they would say, ‘So what’s this?’ ” Wilkinson said.

But children who are victims of war, poverty, disease and natural disasters are appreciative, he said.

Local churches, which have been involved with Operation Christmas Child for four years, have seen videos showing the reaction of recipients, said Roger Muir, volunteer coordinator for the county’s collection center at Ventura Missionary Church.

“The children’s eyes light up and they smile,” Muir said. “It makes you feel good to see it and to know you’ve been a part of getting that box over to them.”

He likes to see local children come in with their parents and deliver a box.

“We have little kids come in with their mothers and I hear the mothers explain, ‘This is going to a little child far away who doesn’t have any toys,’ ” Muir said. “The kids are so happy to help, to give to other children.”

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Ventura Missionary Church secretary Jan Norton has been touched many times watching children drop off their packages.

“I heard one little girl whisper, ‘Good luck, good luck’ to her box as she put it down, and I thought, ‘Oh, bless your heart,’ ” Norton said. “You can tell the children have put a lot of thought and time into what goes into the box and they understand it is going to another child who really needs it.”

Older children from high schools around the area also worked to fill up boxes, Muir said.

He has watched the project grow over the years, and more boxes are coming in this year than ever before, Muir said.

When the churches ran out of the boxes, families, schools and individuals began decorating actual shoe boxes and filling them, Wilkinson said.

So many boxes have been coming in that Muir, who is in charge of sending them to a collection center in Irvine, became concerned about whether he would have enough large shipping boxes.

“I was worried . . . so I called Allied Van Lines and they told me they just moved a library and were wondering what they were going to do with all the empty boxes. It was the first place I called and they said I could have as many boxes as I needed,” Muir said.

To find out how to pack a shoe box or where to take it, call Norton at Ventura Missionary Church at 642-0550, ext. 335 or 327. The church, at 500 High Point Drive, will accept boxes from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday.

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Suggestions of what to put in the boxes are balls, Legos, Hot Wheel cars, dominoes, puzzles, pocket calculators, whistles, marbles, costume jewelry, Barbies, rubber stamps, Hello Kitty items, pencils, crayons, coloring books, Play-Doh, Slinkies, new clothes, T-shirts, underwear, soap, combs, brushes, toothpaste and toothbrushes.

War toys are not acceptable.

A $5 check made out to Samaritan’s Purse will help pay for shipping the boxes. They will be distributed through local churches and ministries.

Moorpark Presbyterian Church at 13950 Peach Hill Road will also be accepting boxes, and children’s ministries director Valerie Renville will bless them during the Sunday worship services at 8:15 and 10:45 a.m. For more information, call 529-8422.