I used to do operation Christmas child with my group when I had older ones. We discussed what was needed and made a list and parents checked off what they were going to send and then we made up the boxes. It was great for teaching one to one as a child would go along the row and put one pencil in each box, and then someone put a pad of paper, etc. I always had lots of extra stuff to put in as well as some more expensive things like a tshirt. Most items were from the dollar store so easy for parents to pick up and not at all expensive. The other option was to bring in money towards other items instead and then I just went on the weekend before we were making up the boxes and bought what was still left over. We got to talk about what we play with and that children around the world like to play with the same toys too such as a skipping rope or a bouncy ball. Some churches do that program and I think there is a website for it but you have to have them ready for shipping a lot earlier than we used to before so not sure what the timing is for that.