While many Austin families are busy with holiday activities, a group of local volunteers is focused on filling empty shoe boxes with school supplies, toys, hygiene items and notes of encouragement for needy kids overseas. Austin families are participating in the world’s largest Christmas project of its kind — Operation Christmas Child — an effort that has hand-delivered 86 million gifts to kids worldwide since 1993.

This year-round project of Samaritan’s Purse is coming to its peak, as local businesses, churches and schools prepare to collect gift-filled shoe boxes during National Collection Week, Nov. 14-21. Volunteers can drop off their shoe box gifts at one location in the area to help kids in 100 countries.

Donate at Crane Community Chapel, at 1111 Ninth St. NE in Austin, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 14-18, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 19, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 20, and 9 a.m. to noon Nov. 21.

For more information on how to participate in Operation Christmas Child, call (612) 359-7025 or visit www.samaritanspurse.org/occ. National Collection Week for gift-filled shoe boxes is Nov. 14-21; however, shoe box gifts are collected all year at the Samaritan’s Purse headquarters in Boone, N.C.