Even Santa couldn’t fit as much Christmas joy into a shoebox as the volunteers of two Miss-Lou churches.

Volunteers at Parkway Baptist Church in Natchez and First Baptist Church in Vidalia have been collecting donations to participate in Operation Christmas Child, a project which sends shoeboxes stuffed with toys, goodies and hygiene items to children around the world.

The operation is a project of Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian organization headed by Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham.

Since 1993, more than 100 million shoebox gifts have been collected for needy children in countries all over the globe.

Parkway Baptist Church is one of many drop-off locations in Mississippi for the operation and is in its seventh year of participating.

Parkway volunteer Diane Lazarus said the church collected more than 2,500 shoeboxes last year.

“We don’t set any type of goals, we just go with what the Lord gives us,” Lazarus said. “It’s always fun and busy for us, and it’s just wonderful.”

The church is accepting boxes for boys and girls ages 2 to 4, 5 to 9 and 10 to 14 until Monday.

Shoeboxes will be accepted from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today, 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday and 8 to 9 a.m. Monday.

Items recommended to put in the shoeboxes range from school supplies such as crayons, pencils and erasers to person hygiene products such as a toothbrush or toothpaste.

Individual items will also be accepted at the church.

“If they’re out this week and can’t find a shoebox at home, we have shoeboxes here to put them in or give them,” Lazarus said. “We have more than 1,000 right now so we’re about halfway there.”

After the collection ends Monday afternoon, the shoeboxes will be delivered to McComb before being shipped out to a distribution center in Atlanta.

From there, Lazarus said the shoeboxes go to countries in need.

“There are about 10 countries on the list where they will be shipped to,” she said. “Macedonia, Dominic Republic and Uruguay are just some of what was on our list.”

Those making a donation through the website, samaritanspurse.org, will get a special shoebox label with a barcode. Once the shoebox reaches its destination, an email will be sent with details about the country.

A personal note can also be enclosed to the child, and those that include a name and address might receive a response from the child.

Lazarus said $7 will cover the shipping of the shoeboxes, but isn’t mandatory.

“If they can’t afford that, we ask that it not stop people from packing a shoebox and bringing it down,” Lazarus said. “There are corporations that donate money to shipping and other ways to get it to the children.”

Across the river in Vidalia, 393 shoeboxes were delivered to Jonesville earlier this week for Operation Christmas Child.

First Baptist Church Vidalia member Ethyl Jackson said the operation is something she and other church volunteers enjoy being a part of.

“It’s such a wonderful thing to do,” Jackson said. “Throughout the years, we’ve sent boxes to so many children and gotten to hear their stories about how much of a difference it made for them.”

One year during a meeting in Jonesville to organize that year’s operation, Jackson said a woman from Russia who received a shoebox as a child came and spoke to the group.

“She told us that she never had anything like that given to her before and how happy she was when she received the box,” Jackson said. “To hear someone else speak about how much it meant to them got us really excited about the project.”