A pack of 10 pencils and paper to write on.

That didn’t sound like much of a Christmas present to the children attending the Washington Street Community Center afterschool program. But after watching a video from the evangelical Christian nonprofit, Samaritan’s Purse, the students now know differently. The YouTube video showed children in countries around the world opening the wrapped, plastic shoeboxes they’d been given for Christmas.

“[It] was about a girl who received a shoebox that had a package of 10 pencils,” said Jewell Alexander, first grade teacher at the center. “She acted like she thought it was the most wonderful thing. She’d never seen that many pencils.”

Alexander suggested that the community service project would be a great way to teach compassion and appreciation to the center’s students. From Nov. 16 through 30 is National Collection Week for the Samaritan’s Purse Christmas box drive.

Individuals and groups, alike, are encouraged to pack a plastic shoebox with gifts for boys and girls throughout the world, children who might not otherwise receive gifts. The boxes can be filled with items such as toy cars, yo-yos, jump ropes, balls and battery-operated toys that light up and make noise. Gifts should be appropriate for a girl or boy, 2- to 4-years-old, 5- to 9-years-old or 10- to 14-years old, and must be small enough to fit a standard-sized shoe box.

When Alexander first brought the idea to the students, they wanted to know why they were sending school supplies, not toys. The video showed them that some children only receive one pencil and one tablet of paper for school, and that the two items have to last the entire academic year.

It was inconceivable to most of the students at the center.

“American children don’t understand how [those students] can write with one tablet and one pencil for an entire year,” Alexander said. “They see this and can’t understand because they treat the pencils and paper so casually here, assured that there will always be more.”

So the students collected school supplies, some extras from donations the center had received, some donated by the students’ parents, and began to pack the shoebox. But they just couldn’t leave it at that – they wanted to include small toys with the school supplies.

Again, parents came through with generous donations, Alexander said. The parents “like their children getting involved in projects like this. Seeing what others don’t have creates a sense of compassion because [their children] it teaches them not only to be appreciative of what they have here, but to see that you can be happy with what you have.

“They learn it’s not just about receiving; it’s about giving,” she said.

The 43 students enrolled in the Washington Street Community Center afterschool program put together 15 Christmas boxes, filled with school supplies and toys. Each grade level, kindergarten through fifth grade, packed two boxes — one for a boy and one for a girl.

Once the boxes are packed and wrapped, they are dropped at Samaritan’s Purse collection sites. Locally, those sites are at the Macedonia Baptist Church, 108 W. Macedonia Church Road in Oxford, and at the Mansfield Baptist Church, 101 Woodlawn Road, Mansfield.

From there, the boxes go to one of eight processing centers located across the U.S. They are inspected and prepared for international shipping to more than 100 countries and territories where local churches distribute them.

Alexander said the plan is to track one box from each grade level, and use it as part of the center’s afterschool social studies program. It offers a meaningful connection to countries, cultures and the people’s life styles.

While toys are appreciated, boxes can also be packed with personal, non-liquid hygiene items, such as toothbrushes, bar soap, combs and washcloths; accessories such as T-shirts, socks, hats, sunglasses, hair clips, jewelry, watches and flashlights with extra batteries; crafts made by hand, such as hair bows, finger puppets and friendship bracelets; or school supplies, like pens, pencils and sharpeners, crayons, markers, notebooks, paper, solar calculators, and coloring or picture books.

Organizers encourage including a note to the child and a family or individual photo, and children receiving packages with the giver’s name and address are encouraged to write back.

Instructions for filling a shoebox are available at the Samaritan’s Purse web site https://www.pinterest.com/occshoeboxes.

Samaritan’s Purse is a nondenominational, evangelical Christian organization. According to its web site at http://www.samaritanspurse.org/, the nonprofit has been providing spiritual and physical aid since 1970s to people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease and famine. It does so as a way to share the Christian Gospel with others.