It’s National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes, a project of Samaritan’s Purse to help children throughout the world.

As of Thursday afternoon, 1,110 shoe boxes had been collected at Salem Bible Fellowship Church in Lehighton, according to Elizabeth Harris, drop-off center coordinator.

“It’s been really good,” Harris said. “Last year we had over 1,000 shoe boxes from this area.”

Harris noted that the initiative is all volunteer-based.

She said they take the shoe boxes from their facility to a central drop-off location at First Baptist Church in Stroudsburg.

From there, Harris said they go down to a processing center in Maryland.

Operation Christmas Child seeks to demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way to children in need around the world and, together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has collected and delivered more than 209 million gift-filled shoe boxes to children in more than 170 countries and territories.

This year, Operation Christmas Child is celebrating its 31st year of ministry.

For more information, visit https://samaritanspurse.org.