Monday, November 3, 2008

Operation Christmas Child

Every year Samaritan's Purse runs their Operation Christmas Child shoe box campaign. This is such a great way to get in the spirit of giving to others during Christmas. We put ours together this weekend. We chose to do two boxes this year...one from each girl. I took them shopping with me and we picked out all the items for the boxes.

Here's what you do:


Get an empty shoe box



Wrap it in fun paper



Buy goodies to go in the box
(crayons, paper, socks, soap, toothpaste, toothbrush,
stickers, small toys, wash cloths, etc.)



Fill the box with goodies



Attach label and add donation for shipping ($7)


Then find a drop off location near you....for us, it's our church!
Collection week is November 17-24.


EDIT: It has been brought to my attention that in the past, there has been a shortage of boxes for boys ages 5-9 and 10-14. So if you haven't put your boxes together, consider doing one for a boy in one of these age categories.

I would love to know how many of you do this....leave me a comment!

7 comments:

  1. Yes, we do this every year. Thanks for sharing, too! Great post.

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  2. We love filling the shoebox every year too. This year Ethan even asked me when we were doing it. Made me so happy that it is important to him!

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  3. We do it too :) This year, we're doing two boy boxes. My friend Mandi did a post on this back in the summer:
    http://mythreedoodles.blogspot.com/2008/07/surfin-net-special-operation-christmas.html

    A commenter (& OCC coordinator) had said that Samaritan's Purse is usually short on boxes for boys ages 5-9 & 10-14. I had no idea!!!

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  4. I love this ministry. I love that it gives my kids a tangible way to help other kids. We haven't filled our boxes yet, but are hoping to soon!

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  5. We do this at our congregation too. I've seen several posts on various blogs about it. Glad to see people coming together for such a cause!

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  6. We did a shoe box this year as well, we did a 2-4 year old boy that way Peyton could pick out things he likes to give. I have to say I think I have one of the sweetest 3 year old boys on the planet. He picked out all of his favorite stuff and he's more then willing to put it all in the box and watch it go, but he also came home and went through all of his halloween candy and picked out all the lollipops to send and then he picked out a small teddy bear of his that he has sitting on a shelf and gave it a hug and put it in the box. I asked him if he really wanted to give it up and he said I have another bear up there that I will keep. How sweet!

    Carrie

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  7. We do an "Angel Tree Project" at our church. In early November, we select one or more paper angels from a tree in the foyer with the first name & age of a boy or girl for whom we will purchase gifts. Then there is an evening of fellowship and prayer at church on the Sunday after Thanksgiving where everyone gathers to wrap the gifts. The gifts benefit the disadvantaged children in our inner city. I missed the fellowship evening last year as we were celebrating Thanksgiving in Minnesota!

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