Operation Christmas Child is back again this year in the foothills.

The High River area coordinator, Jim Graham says filling a shoe box with small gifts for a child in another country is a simple act that travels a long ways.

"The world in some ways is pretty difficult and ugly at times, for a child caught in the middle of a war situation it must seem desperate, he must wonder 'does anybody out there care at all," he says. "A little box comes, that says you know, somebody cares about you, God loves you, that's an important piece of what we need to send."

Graham says things like a ball, a hat, some school supplies, crayons or a shirt stuffed into a water bottle make great gifts.

He says some of the things that can't go in the boxes are toothpaste or candy.

Graham..says boxes from this area will be headed to Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica and Venezuela. And there will be a bunch of boxes headed to the part of the Ukraine that's been in turmoil where children have been caught in the middle.

He says shoe boxes are available at churches around the area and at the Shoppers Drug Mart.

They'll be collected at the High River Alliance church the week of November 16.