Collection season for the national Operation Christmas Child has begun in Erie.
During the 2025 holiday season, Operation Christmas Child, a national project created by Samaritan’s Purse, will be hosting around 5,000 drop-off locations across the country. Several of those locations are in Erie County for a week.
This season, Operation Christmas Child will be creating shoeboxes filled with gifts to deliver to children worldwide. The organization’s goal for 2025 is to globally reach 12 million children.
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Which churches in Erie County are collecting for Operation Christmas Child?
Below are the churches that will be partnering with Operation Christmas Child as a designated drop-off donation site.
Collections will take place at these churches during select hours from Nov. 17 through Nov. 24. All hours can be found at samaritanspurse.org.
Flagship Free Will Baptist Church: 1959 E. 36th St.
First Baptist Church, North East: 43 S. Lake St.
First Alliance Church: 2939 Zimmerly Road
First Baptists Church of Edinboro: 12472 Edinboro Road
Faith Evangelical Church, Corry: 13444 W. Washington St. Ext.
What items can I donate to Operation Christmas Child?
According to samaritanspurse.org, donors are encouraged to create a shoebox package filled with any of the following categories:
A “wow” item: doll, large toy, soccer ball and pump, stuffed animal or musical instrument.
Clothing and accessories;
Crafts and activities: puzzles, binoculars, compass, chalkboard, fishing kit, jump rope, coloring books, playdough, stickers and books.
Toys: ball, frisbee, blocks, slinky, yo-yo, magnets, interactive toys or other small toys and figures.
What items should you not include in an Operation Christmas Child box?
Donors are encouraged to stray away from any of the following objects:
Scary or war-related items;
Wearable traditional camouflage;
Matches, fire starters or aerosols;
Knives, saws or razor blades.
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For more guidance on donations, check out samaritanspurse.org.
Nicholas Sorensen can be contacted at Nsorensen@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: What items can I donate for Operation Christmas Child?