A child getting excited about hand soap and pencils is a pretty foreign idea for America's youth.

With children eagerly awaiting the latest Xbox, PlayStation or Wii product, it's odd to think of someone getting excited over what many consider so little.

However, with Operation Christmas Child, children all over the world can receive a present to be excited about.

Operation Christmas Child is the largest Christmas project of its kind. Since its origination in 1993, it has delivered more than 113 million presents to people in 150 countries, according to a news release from the organization.

Last year, Southeast Missouri collected 21,921 shoe boxes filled with gifts. With the support of the community, the organization hopes to raise that total this year.

"We're hoping to collect 24,115 boxes," local area coordinator Gene Wilfong said. "It's a 10 percent increase over last year."

Wilfong has been a volunteer for four years and served as the area coordinator for the past three. In his time as coordinator, the Christmas project has achieved its goal of increasing presents by 10 percent each year.

Operation Christmas Child collects anything from school supplies to hygiene products to toys for children, with donation centers all over the region, including St. Andrew Lutheran Church, 804 N. Cape Rock Drive in Cape Girardeau; Charleston Baptist Association, 4855 Highway 77 in Benton, Missouri; First Baptist Church, 200 S. Walker St. in Cobden, Illinois; and Advance First Baptist Church, 408 N. Oak St. in Advance, Missouri.

The age groups for gifts are divided among children ages 2 to 4, 5 to 9 or 10 to 14, but it is requested that presents be suitable for girls or boys. Wilfong said wrapping the shoe boxes isn't required but encouraged.

Donators can label their boxes for an age group or use a tag at the donation center to specify.

This year, about 20,000 boxes will be shipped to Iraq, but the locations vary. The presents are shipped soon after Christmas and can require up to nine months to arrive at their intended destinations.

Wilfong and his wife visited one of the areas receiving gifts, and just reminiscing on his trip to Uganda sent him into a pensive state.

"It is indescribable," Wilfong said. "When you have kids who have never received a gift in their life, and you give them pencils and school supplies -- which they need to go to school -- they're just completely thrilled. When they get hygiene products like soap, they'll take their soap out of the box and smell it and then let the other kids smell it. And just seeing the appreciation of the children and their parents and just everyone involved, it's amazing."

Collection week lasts from today through Nov. 24. For more information on the program, visit samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child.

smaue@semissourian.com

388-3644

Pertinent Addresses:

Saint Andrew Lutheran Church, 804 N. Cape Rock Drive, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Charleston Baptist Association, 4855 Highway 77, Benton, Mo.

First Baptist Church, 200 S. Walker St., Cobden, Ill.

Advance First Baptist Church, 408 N. Oak St., Advance, Mo.