Operation Christmas Child aims to give over 12 million giftboxes to kids in need, opens new facility

WINDSOR MILL, Maryland — Thousands of volunteers are packaging over 1 million Christmas gift boxes for children in need across the globe at a newly opened ministry center in the Baltimore area, where Rev. Franklin Graham emphasized the need to teach the next generation of Americans the importance of giving.

During an Operation Christmas Child dedication ceremony on Friday, the son of the late Rev. Billy Graham prayed over the volunteers at the 80,000-square-foot Mid-Atlantic Ministry Center, where over 11,000 volunteers will work until Christmas to fill more than a million shoeboxes with school supplies, personal care items and toys.

Operation Christmas Child is a Christian missionary program that partners with churches throughout the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada and South Korea to deliver shoeboxes and is a program of Samaritan’s Purse, of which Graham serves as president and CEO. 

Throughout the day, volunteers packed dolls into boxes intended for girls and inflatable soccer balls into boxes intended for boys, along with pens, pencils, paper and other supplies. The shoeboxes processed at the new facility will go to children in Ukraine and various countries in Africa and Asia. In Ukraine alone, Samaritan’s Purse has established relationships with over 3,000 churches, Graham said. 

“I think one of the byproducts of all this is teaching kids in this country the importance of giving,” the Evangelical leader told The Christian Post. “You're teaching another generation the importance of giving. America is the most generous and giving country in the world. Nobody gives like the United States.”

“And so, it's important that we pass that on to the next generation, because we're living pretty much in a kind of ‘me society,’ where it's 'me first,' 'me first,’” Graham argued. “This is so important that we teach children to help others.” 

The volunteers working to fill shoeboxes on Friday consisted of families with young children, as well as local and out-of-state church groups. In addition to Maryland residents, people from 10 other states showed up at the new facility to help with the initiative, according to Graham. 

While the goal is to package over a million shoeboxes at the center in Baltimore, Graham said that the operation plans to package around 12 million to 13 million boxes this year. 

The organization maintains communication with local churches in various countries to determine the level of need and whether they will send shoeboxes to the country through the Operation Christmas Child program, Graham said. 

The program relies entirely on volunteers to pack and process the boxes, which helps keep costs low. While shipping and transportation represent the primary expenses, Graham said the scale of the operation would not be possible without donated labor.

“We give God the glory, and we thank Him for this facility,” the Christian leader said to the crowd of attendees. “I came to look at this building two years ago. [The facility] was used for some type of fraud investigation, and the place was filled with computers and computer screens.”

Samaritan's Purse spent $16 million renovating the building and emptying out the leftover items. The new center will serve as a permanent warehouse and office space for staff and volunteers to work year-round.

“And you see what it is today,” Graham told CP after the ceremony. “We're just grateful that we have a place now that people can come to every year. They know where it is, and they'll keep coming back to the same place.”