More than 150 people showed up Saturday at Amy Ashberry’s Cobbs Creek home, packing a total of 1,532 Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes for needy children this holiday season.

“It’s easy to become weary in this world,” Ashberry wrote on Facebook. “Just ask me about the week I’ve had. But when well over 150 people show up to give of their time to give to children across the globe, it restores your hope for the good in the world. Today was an amazing day as countless people who I know came together to pack shoeboxes for children around the world.”

Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan’s Purse, an international relief organization. Its mission is to provide local partners around the world with shoeboxes filled with small toys, hygiene items and school supplies “as a means of reaching out to children in their own communities with the Good News of Jesus Christ,” according to the Operation Christmas Child website.

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