Colored pencils, simple notebooks, crayons and similar items are standard school supplies for most students in the United States, but they are precious commodities to children living in poor countries.

Long after the start of each school year, Rene Morgan, a local organizer for Operation Christmas Child, continues to think of youngsters around the globe who lack these basic classroom necessities.

"Many kids can’t go to school because they don’t have a pencil or a notebook. In America it’s hard to imagine that," Morgan said.

With help from church and community groups, as well as individual donors, Operation Christmas Child delivers shoe boxes filled with toys, school supplies and toiletries to children in more than 100 countries on six continents. The program was started in 1993 by Samaritan’s Purse, a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization based in Boone, N.C.

The project came to Hawaii in the late ’90s and was introduced through school groups. At least 200 volunteers on Oahu serve as project leaders and coordinate the shoe box drives at their businesses, churches and civic clubs. About 27 people work on the project year-round, according to Morgan.

Last year 32,000 shoe boxes were collected on Oahu and sent to a processing center that inspects the packages and prepares them for overseas shipping. This year the local group expects to collect 50,000 boxes, and Morgan hopes many of them will be filled with leftover items from back-to-school sales.

"My kids’ outlook on life has really shifted" since participating in Operation Christmas Child, Morgan said. Her 11-year-old son, Conrad, and 13-year-old daughter, Sophia, help stuff hundreds of boxes each year.

Sophia was the first youth to lead an Operation Christmas Child team here, and she works at the shoe box processing center that is set up in a warehouse for a monthlong period each year. She has also been knitting hats for the past year and a half to include in the boxes.

"I wanted to make something handmade that a child would appreciate. It’s such a simple way to help," she said.

One thing she always tries to include is a stuffed animal. "All genders and all ages, whether it’s a 2-year-old or a 14-year-old, say stuffed animals are the most loved item. I think it provides them with comfort," Sophia said.

The teenager and her friends host shoe box packing parties. Some donors write notes to the children, and others make purses or beanbags to add a personal touch. Even more practical items are much appreciated by children with so little.

"One girl from Bosnia was overjoyed to receive her box with a new notebook. She only had one notebook, so it was such an incredible gift. She would have to go back and erase every page and redo her lesson notes. It was hard to read the new notes because the paper was so worn," Rene Morgan explained.

The national collection week is Nov. 12-19, with local drop-off locations to be announced in October. A Hawaii kickoff event is slated for Saturday at First Baptist Church, 1313 Pensacola St., when folks can bring items to donate; boxes will be provided.

In the meantime, incomplete boxes, small toys and other goodies continue to fill the Morgan household. "My house looks like Santa’s workshop," Rene Morgan said.

"Anyone can fill a shoe box with the little things we take for granted like a toothbrush, pencil, notebook, a bar of soap and washcloth. God uses that gift to deliver hope and love to desperately needy children. I believe that if you look into a person’s heart, there is a deep desire to make a difference in the life of a human being. Packing shoe boxes allows us all to make that difference."