Glen Rock Mom Organizing Christmas Gift Donation Drive

GLEN ROCK, N.J. — Christmas is coming soon and one borough mother has already started collecting donations for children in need.

Denise Landau-Blind has passed out dozens of boxes for Operation Christmas Child, a ministry of Samaritan's Purse, an international disaster relief organization.

Samaritan's Purse has delivered 124 million shoeboxes filled with toys, clothes, and toiletries to children in more than 150 countries since 1993.

Landau-Blind started collecting boxes locally in 2014 after she heard a story from a friend of her's who grew up in an orphanage.

"She got a yo-yo for Christmas one year and it was the only gift she got and she loved it," Landau-Blind said. "The gifts that they kids receive mean so much to them. They mean somebody out there loves them and cares about them."

Landau-Blind collected 116 boxes in 2014 and 136 in 2015. She hopes to fill 200 this year. She always makes sure they are filled when she drops them off at her church. Toys and goods may be purchased for one of three age groups. Each box costs $7 to ship. Regular shoe boxes can be used, in addition to the colorful themed boxes Landau-Blind is giving out.

For more information on the charity, including a list of suggested, and prohibited items, click here.

To participate Landau-Blind's collection effort, email her at Neesie466@hotmail.com.

Operation Christmas Child boxes and examples of what gifts can go in a box for a boy and a girl. — By

Evelyn Giggles, used with permission via Flickr Creative Commons license