Local motorcyclists are invited to participate Saturday, Oct. 20, in “Bikers with Boxes,” an event that brings riders together while participating in Operation Christmas Child.

Operation Christmas Child, a program of Christian outreach organization Samaritan’s Purse, collects shoe boxes filled with gifts each year to provide to needy children in countries afflicted by war or poverty.

More information and instructions on how to properly pack a shoe box gift is available online at http://www.samaritanspurse.org/occ.

Each biker is asked to bring at least one shoe box gift to the Samaritan’s Purse parking lot at 9 a.m. Saturday. The group will leave around 9:30 a.m. and travel with a Watauga County sheriff’s escort to U.S. 421 to Wilkesboro, where they will stop at CrossRoads Harley-Davidson.

The group will then head south on a scenic route, picking up I-77 and ending at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte. A complimentary lunch will be provided, along with music, giveaways and an opportunity to meet a young woman who received a shoebox gift when she was a child.

For more information, call Jadonna Trout at (828) 398-1810.