Monday, November 14, 2011

Operation Christmas Child: Time To Give

Most of my blog readers know (of) Braden, are parents themselves, or are mommies-to-be. Can you imagine if your child had nothing for Christmas? It breaks my heart. We are so blessed...I truly think we have no idea! Just a few days ago I was in Toys R Us fretting over what Thomas toys Santa should bring Braden for Christmas. I was so overwhelmed that I just left. Then, we had a presentation from Jay's Auntie Barb in church today on Operation Christmas Child, organized by Samaritan's Purse. I have sent these shoe boxes out before, but ashamedly I have to admit it's slipped by me the last couple of years. This year, even though there's only 1 week left to get the shoe boxes ready...I was going to do it!
Operation Christmas Child 2011
Operation Christmas Child 2011
Here is some more about OCC from their website:
Bringing joy and hope to children 
Operation Christmas Child brings joy and hope to children in desperate situations around the world through gift-filled shoe boxes and the message of God’s unconditional love.  It provides an opportunity for people of all ages to be involved in a simple, hands-on project of Samaritan’s Purse that focuses on the true meaning of Christmas – Jesus Christ – God’s greatest gift.
Operation Christmas Child was started in 1990 by Dave Cooke, a Welshman who felt moved to deliver gifts to Romanian orphans after seeing their living circumstances on television.  In 1993, Operation Christmas Child grew and was adopted by Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian organization run by Franklin Graham. 
 
To date, Operation Christmas Child has collected and distributed over 86 million shoe box gifts worldwide.  Each shoe box gift is filled with hygiene items, school supplies, toys, and candy, is given to children regardless of gender, race, religion, or age.  When culturally appropriate, copies of a book entitled The Greatest Gift of All, which has been translated into 130 different languages, are offered to children after the shoe box has already been distributed.
Join us:

  • In celebrating the 640,714 shoe boxes collected in Canada in the 2010 season!
  • In packing even more shoe boxes that will bless children around the world in the 2011 season!
Take a look at this amazing, promo video. An 8 year old Australian girl wrote this song and they made a professional video out of it last year. I dare you not to shed a tear...or at least choke a few back!

It does cost more to do it this way - $37 in total - but if it's the only way you can do it, it'd sure be a nice gesture to a child who probably won't receive anything else for Christmas. For my Canadian friends and family click here to find out where you can drop off your shoe box by November 21st!

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5 comments:

  1. I haven't done this since high school. I'm going to do it this year. I'm going to go through Tristan's things that he doesn't use or he has extras of and make a box for a child about his age. Thank you for reminding me! :)

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  2. I can't believe I only have ONE week left. Thank you so much for the reminder, it's so simple and so important.

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  3. I picked one of these up on Saturday, i'm really excited to fill it up and send it. Feels good to give back, especially to children!

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  4. This is awesome. Thanks for letting me know about this!

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  5. Our family LOVES OCC! I am glad you are on board too! We did 2 boxes this year. When I was young I got a letter and package of home made items back from a little girl that received my box!

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