NATCHEZ — Area residents are making a difference around the world — one shoebox at a time.

Students at Adams County Christian School and Cathedral School plus numerous local churches and individual residents have been collecting and filling shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.

The nationwide project, led by Christian organization Samaritan’s Purse, delivers shoeboxes full of toys to needy children around the world.

Parkway Baptist Church serves as a regional drop-off center, and is collecting boxes this week.

The church collected approximately 400 boxes Tuesday.

Among those boxes were donations from the ACCS Honors Society and Beta Club members.

The school promotes the project each year.

“I’ve had to have done about 20 of these boxes,” Sarah Brumfield said.

Brumfield, a senior from Vidalia, said she has been involved with the program not only through school, but with her church as well.

This year, Brumfield has provided four children with Christmas gifts.

“I send a letter in each one,” Brumfield said. “I try to make (the gifts) something (a child) would want instead of something cheap because this is their Christmas present.”

Senior Mindy McCall said the two boxes she sent off this year were for a little boy and a little girl.

“Over here, we are so blessed with everything and over there, they don’t have anything,” McCall said.

McCall said while it is rewarding to shop for Christmas gifts for unknown children, the real reward comes in the form of each child’s reaction to the gifts.

“At church, we get to watch the video and see their faces opening their gifts, and it gives me a thrill to see them, every time,” McCall said.

Tuesday, advisers Tracy Davis and Brooke Holland organized a group of six senior class and club officers to pick up approximately 183 boxes from their school and Natchez First Baptist Church and deliver them to Parkway Baptist Church.

Davis said the school collected 53 boxes and that she was very proud of her students for stepping up to the plate and giving, even in tight economic times.

“Last year was even bigger,” Davis said. “So many kids don’t have the funds. Boxes were due on Friday, and Wednesday we only had five or six boxes, but Friday. It was like an overload. It surprises me every year.”

“We do this because it’s meaningful — it’s going to mean something to someone,” Davis said.

At Cathedral School, the Key Club is organizing the shoebox drive.

“When we do a project, I like to have something concrete when we are done as opposed to just collecting money,” club adviser Jean Benoit said. “This will be some children’s only present — not just for Christmas — but for the entire year.”

Elementary school students at Cathedral have been donating items for the shoeboxes, and high school students have packed the boxes.

Parkway’s drop-off center had received boxes from Tallulah and Jonesville, La., and Woodville by Wednesday.

From here, the boxes will go to a consolidation center in McComb before they are transported via 18-wheeler to Atlanta’s distribution center.

Samaritan’s Purse will work to check each box and ship them to Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia, Kenya, Kosova, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Montenegro, Mozambique, Romania, Serbia, Swaziland, Ukraine and Zimbabwe.

The Parkway drop-off center will be open to collect filled shoeboxes from noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, and from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Boxes should include small toys, personal items like toothbrushes and soap, notebooks, pencils, pens and stickers. A complete list of suggested items can be found at www.samaritanspurse.org.