IT’S time to get packing to make Christmas special for children in parts of the world hit by poverty or natural disasters.

Operation Christmas Child, run by the charity Samaritan’s Purse, is once more asking the public to fill shoeboxes with gift items for youngsters in these deprived areas.

Many primary schools are already involved including Romsey Abbey, Barton Stacey, Braishfield, Awbridge, Ampfield, Stroud, Stockbridge, Halterworth, King’s Somborne, Broughton, Lockerley, Hursley, West Tytherley, HCS, Otterbourne,Rownhams, Nursling, and Mountbatten and Romsey secondary schools.

Information leaflets are available at Paperchain and Oasis in Romsey and Choice Plants, Timsbury all of which will also act as drop-off points for boxes from November 1-18.

If you haven’t got a box handy flat-pack Go-boxes are available from Oasis and Choice Plants.

Several shoebox packing events are being held including two tomorrow (Saturday) at Romsey Baptist Church Hall in Bell Street from 10am to 1pm and from 10.30am at the Jubilee Hall, Timsbury. On Saturday, November 8, Awbridge Village Hall hosts a packing event from 10am to 2pm.

The annual Romsey Deanery Service for Operation Christmas Child will be held on Sunday, November 16, at 3pm, at St Mary’s Church, Broughton when the Bishop of Southampton, is also joining in, so do bring your families and boxes along.

To find out what to put in your box visit operationchristmaschild.org.uk If you make your donation on-line and print off a unique bar code, your shoebox can be tracked to its destination, and in the New Year you should receive an email telling you where your shoebox has actually gone!

Destinations of this year’s boxes will include Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia, Kosova, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Montenegro, Romania, Rwanda, Serbia, Swaziland, Uganda, Ukraine, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Mary Savage volunteer rep for Samaritan’s Purse said: “Last year Samaritan’s Purse sent almost 10 million shoeboxes worldwide including nearly one million from the UK, we want to send more than one million boxes from the UK this year, so can you help us?”

For more information call Mary on 01794 367908 or email savage@ choiceplants.freeserve.co.uk.

Anyone who would like to volunteer to help out at the local warehouse should call 07982 804415.