ROANOKE, Va. -- William Hylton just couldn't get enough of hauling boxes.

According to the Roanoke Times, the eager 10-year-old insisted his hand truck could handle even more of the shoe boxes being unloaded from the minivan -- shoe boxes packed full of toys and school supplies, bound for the hands of some of the world's poorest children.

"I hope it ends up with some kid who really needs it," Hylton said. "I don't care what country it is."

On Monday, West Salem Baptist Church became a shipping hub. For the first time, the church is a regional collection center for Operation Christmas Child, an international effort to spread the gospel and holiday cheer to children whose homes are devastated by war, poverty, natural disaster and disease.

Throughout the day dozens of donors stopped by the Salem church to drop off shoeboxes. Truckloads from churches in the New River Valley, Rocky Mount, Patrick County and the Roanoke Valley made the parking lot a busy place.

Project coordinator Gwenn Harth said the church has collected more than 18,000 gift boxes, were shipped in five trailers on Nov. 25 to North Carolina for processing. From there they'll be sent to countries such as Afghanistan, Bolivia, Ghana, Russia, Vietnam, Mexico and many others.

"It's just an amazing thing," Harth said. "I know it's changing people's lives."

Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan's Purse, a North Carolina-based nondenominational evangelical Christian charity led since 1979 by Franklin Graham, son of the Rev. Billy Graham.

Operation Christmas Child distributed more than 5 million gift boxes of new items and Christian literature to about 95 countries last year. The group hopes to distribute 6 million boxes this year, with the help of churches across the country like West Salem Baptist.

That church became a local relay center four years ago, and the volume of the donations that came through the church convinced Samaritan's Purse to establish it as a regional collection center this year.

This year, Harth spent $6.48 each on the 21 boxes she assembled herself, using gifts like sunglasses, socks, marbles, toothpaste and school supplies.

Filling shoeboxes has become a holiday ritual for the Hylton family. Cindy Hylton, William's mother and a project coordinator, said the project keeps her family focused on giving.

"I just think we have way too much," she said. "You can at least give a little bit of hope."