“Everything has to be taken a step at a time,” said Ginny Cook, area coordinator for Operation Christmas Child, as she discussed the gargantuan project of assembling and packing 5,000 boxes for this year’s Operation Christmas Child.

Among the first steps was the donation last spring of 5,000 unassembled boxes.

“We knew we wanted to pack 5,000 boxes this year, but we thought, ‘How in the world are we going to get 5,000 boxes?’” Cook said.

As part of the Great Lakes Region that covers Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and West Virginia, Cook said she got a call from one of the regional offices in Xenia that had learned from a woman who worked as a logistics person for General Mills in Grand Rapids, Mich., that 5,000 unused Yoplait Yogurt boxes were slated to be thrown away, but she thought someone might want to use the boxes for Operation Christmas Child. (The size of the boxes are similar to a shoe box.)

“When we got the call, we said, ‘Yes, we want the boxes,’” Cook said, “But the glitch was, you had to go to Grand Rapids to get them.”

Two members from Bigelow Church, Harold Mullins and Nathan Franke. took Glenn Franke’s huge truck and in one day — 800 miles round trip — picked up the boxes, and, according to Cook, pulled into her driveway about 9 p.m. with a huge pallet of boxes.

Now, every Wednesday morning at Bigelow Church, three youths from the Ohio River Valley Correction Facility in Franklin Furnace work from 9 a.m. to about 4 p.m. assembling and labeling the boxes. Each of the young men say they are excited to be part of the work and enjoy giving back to the community.

ORVCF recreation adviser Lance Sydnor said the teens are well-behaved and dedicated to the partnership between Operation Christmas Child and ORVCF, and were chosen because of their good behavior and school work.

“What the young men are doing is so critical,” Cook said. “I call it the beginning of the assembly line, because we’re packing 5,000 boxes — or ‘gospel opportunities’ as we call them — for children around the world. If the boxes are not assembled, then they can’t be packed, and 5,000 boxes is a tremendous effort.”

Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child, a project of international Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse headed by Franklin Graham, has delivered more than 69 million gift-filled shoe boxes to needy children in some 130 countries.

Because this is such a large project, the headquarters for Samaritan’s Purse in Boone, N.C., is sending a truck to pick up the boxes at the conclusion of this year’s OCC Packing Party which takes place at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, at Cornerstone United Methodist Church, 808 Offnere St., Portsmouth. On Thursday and Friday before the packing party, help is needed to transport the boxes and items to the church. There are also many items still needed: stuffed animals (Beanie Babies), combs, washcloths and soap, toothpaste, pencil sharpeners, small toys, candy and writing tablets.

Imagine, there are millions of children worldwide who have never owned something as simple as a hair brush, a toy ball or even a pencil. To donate items for Operation Christmas Child or to help out at the packing party, call Ginny Cook, (740) 354-1419. Help also is needed to move boxes to the church.

DEBORAH DANIELS can be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 234.