GARNER - After a year that saw him go from the halls of Garner High School to Hollywood TV studios to arena stages across the nation, Scotty McCreery will close 2011 by visiting with hundreds of children who are much less fortunate.

McCreery, the 18-year-old "American Idol" winner, is traveling to the Dominican Republic on Tuesday with a group of family members and friends. They will be delivering shoeboxes filled with gifts to poverty-stricken children.

The trip is part of "Operation Christmas Child," the international charity program organized by Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Purse organization.

Thanks to his newfound celebrity this year, McCreery will have the opportunity to see up close what the shoe boxes can mean to recipients. Operation Christmas Child hopes to deliver shoe boxes to more than 8.5 million children worldwide this Christmas.

The Dominican Republic holds special appeal for McCreery, said his mother, Judy.

Besides music, McCreery's other passion is baseball. He hopes to earn a spot on Garner High's team this spring.

Since winning the top-ranked TV singing competition in May, McCreery's life has been a bit of a whirlwind. He's performed on many talk shows, headlined last summer's "American Idols Live!" tour, earned gold records, saw his first album soar to the top of the charts and been named the top new artist at the American Country Awards.

In a few weeks, he'll be heading out on tour where he'll open shows for fellow country singer Brad Paisley.

But throughout his success, McCreery has tried to live his life as normally as possible when he's home in Garner. That came as a surprise to some TV and music execs.

"They said it's impossible - there's no way you can go back to school," McCreery, a senior, remembered. "I said, 'Look, y'all don't know my hometown.' "