Can anything be more precious than seeing a child's wide-eyed wonder and joy when given a Christmas gift?

Is it something most of us take for granted?Can you even begin to imagine what it must be like for a child who has never received a gift in his life to one day have a beautifully wrapped shoebox handed to him filled with a few toys, maybe a book, a bar of soap, a pair of socks, a sweet treat?For the past 20 years, Samaritan's Purse has been responsible for bringing that look of wonder and delight to millions of children around the world in a Christian ministry called Operation Christmas Child.What is this ministry?Samaritan's Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization founded by Franklin Graham, Billy Graham's son, in 1979, providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Since 1970, Samaritan's Purse has helped meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease and famine with the purpose of sharing God's love through his son, Jesus Christ.Operation Christmas Child began in 1993 when Franklin Graham, Samaritan's Purse president and chairman of the board, was asked to put together some shoe boxes for the children of war-torn Bosnia. The response from a Charlotte, North Carolina, church and one in Canada resulted in 28,000 boxes that first year. To date, they have distributed over 100 million to children all over the world. Graham's book "Operation Christmas Child" tells the stories of children who received the shoe boxes.Begins locallyThe Rev. Robert Johnson and the congregation of Salem Bible Fellowship Church in Lehighton heard a calling to be a part of this ministry 10 years ago.What appeals to Pastor Johnson is the integrity of Samaritan's Purse and Operation Christmas Child."The ministry has a very high integrity of these shoe box gifts. The shoe boxes never leave the hands of a volunteer committed to the project from the time the gifts are brought in, to the volunteers who fill the boxes, who transport the boxes to a relay center, to the transportation to the distribution center from where it goes directly to the distribution center in Maryland, until it arrives in the hands of the child in a struggling country. This may be the only gift they've ever received."Seven years ago, the church volunteered to be a relay center for the area. Last year the relay center received 787 shoe boxes.Elizabeth Fritz of Lehighton got involved with the project six years ago when her brother Thomas made it his high school senior project. She became so committed to Operation Christmas Child that she volunteered to be the Relay Center's coordinator four years ago.The Relay Center, at 1105 Fredericks Grove Road in Lehighton, is the destination point for the Carbon County area and part of Schuylkill County."People, churches and organizations bring their boxes to us. We count them and box them in large cardboard boxes. They then go to a center in Stroudsburg and from there to the distribution center in Maryland," says Fritz.Collection WeekEverything culminates during collection week, Nov. 17-24. During this time, anyone can bring their shoe boxes. Christmas music plays and refreshments are available."It's our ministry to the community," says Fritz. "People get attached to their boxes. They pray for the child who will receive it. We interact with the people who bring them to us, we minister to them."