ST. CLAIRSVILLE — A humble shoebox can be as welcome as presents under the tree for a child overseas in poor and war-torn regions.

The pupils of East Richland Christian School and others in Ohio and West Virginia heard the news when Mark and Cheryl Brumbelow, who pastor Grace Baptist Church in Wild Peach, Texas, visited to talk about their help with Operation Christmas Child, a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse.

The Texas church had 30 members in 2014, when the Brumbelows challenged them to fill 500 Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts for children in need around the world. That year the church packed 532. The number of gifts has increased each year since.

Mark Brumbelow said their church will have packed 14,000 shoeboxes this year as of the last weekend of October.

In St. Clairsville on Friday, they spoke to a chapel full of students ranging from preschoolers through 12th-graders.

They also spoke Friday at a Baptist church in Moundsville. On Saturday, they were set to speak at the First Baptist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, a Seventh Day Adventist church in Salem and the Fresh Harvest Assembly of God church in Morgantown.

On Sunday, they will speak at Pinto Mennonite Church in Cumberland, Maryland, and Faith Church at Mountain Lake Park, Maryland.

Cheryl Brumbelow said they congratulated the St. Clairsville students for their past dedication to packing and sending shoeboxes.

“We wanted to share with the kids a little bit about the impact, so we shared a story about a child in Guyana and how that shoebox affected her and how special it was,” she said.

“Our church is a little tiny church in south Texas that packs thousands of shoeboxes,” she said. “Even as children, they can be a blessing in God’s kingdom by packing these gifts for boys and girls all over the world. Our challenge to them was to pray and ask God how many shoeboxes He wanted them to pack.”

Mark Brumbelow said anyone from the young to the elderly can participate.

“We can gather up stuff to put a smile on a kid’s face,” he said.

Mike Brummitt, Great Lakes regional manager of Samaritan’s Purse, spoke about the organization.

“We encourage people to pack shoeboxes with hygiene items, with toys, with school supplies, the kinds of things that many of these children, if not all of these children, have never received,” he said. “It becomes a way to just show them tangible love, and then we share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them.”

The shoeboxes are delivered to children in more than 100 counties. Cheryl Brumbelow added this is the 30th year of the initiative, and 200 million shoeboxes from America have been delivered.

“You never know what shoebox is going to go where,” she said. “God is involved in this, because He wants them to feel loved. He wants them to know how much they are loved.”

Brummitt said there are currently eight “processing centers” in the United States where the shoeboxes are examined and problem materials such as liquids, food with expiration dates and items of questionable safety or that might otherwise interfere with delivery are taken out. He said that last year 10.5 million shoe boxes were processed, and he expects more than 11 million this year.

Brummitt said the shoeboxes are sent to churches overseas. They are divided into age- and gender-specific contents, for children ages 2-14. He said the ministry works with local residents in various countries to determine how many shoeboxes they will need in every age group for years in advance, based on the demographics of the populations.

Cheryl Brumbelow said donors are also asked not to pack “war-related items.”

“So many of these boxes are going to war-torn areas. WIth our kids, toy soldiers are fun to play with, but a lot of these countries that have been devastated by war, a toy soldier would not be fun, it would bring back terrible memories,” she said.

For more information about the ministry, drop-off locations and recommended items to pack, visit samaritanspurse.org.

Shoebox packers take their boxes to their closest drop-off location on the third week of November.

Mark Brumbelow said the program is active among churches, civic clubs, schools and individuals.

“We’re up here to promote it and increase it,” he said. “It’s such a wonderful ministry that anybody can be a part of. Just take an empty shoebox and pack it with toys and toiletries and school supplies.

Churches that collect shoeboxes in Belmont County include East Richland Friends and the Barnesville Shekinah Ministries. In Jefferson County, the Wintersville United Methodist Church is a collection site, and in Monroe County the Hannibal Methodist and Woodsfield Baptist churches accept shoeboxes.

Cheryl Brumbelow said their congregation receives letters from children they have helped.

April Woods, administrator of East Richland Christian School, said the Brumbelows made an impression.

“Some of their stories and how with such a small congregation, how they reached thousands … some of the stories were just very memorable,” she said, adding the students may rise to the challenge and do more.

She added that the school has long been involved with Operation Christmas Child.

“We try to do that every year and get the students involved with putting together the shoeboxes, and we send them off just as a form of service and giving to others,” she said, adding that East Richland Evangelical Friends Church is a dropoff and pickup center for the Christmas shoeboxes.