Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Operation Christmas Child

Its that time of year again!  Its shoebox week!  We love the Operation Christmas Child ministry of Franklin Graham (Billy Grahams son).  This is an opportunity for individuals, families, or groups to participate in a ministry which will impact millions of children worldwide, and do it from the comfort of their own homes.  OCC's goal this year it to collect and distribute 8,000,000 (million) shoebox gifts through churches and schools here in the US and worldwide.  Last year we were able to track some of our boxes and found out some were shipped to Chad & some to Honduras. 

This year, our family goal was to spend $XX amount of money every month to buy shoebox stuffers.  We had a great time every single month going to the Dollar store, clearance bins at Walmart, etc to find goodies.  We even hit a clearance at Kroger and got packs of those little rubbery, Silly Band bracelets for .25 a pack.  We used our coupons to get "free" toothpaste at the grocery store, also.

Our shoeboxes are stuffed with combs/brushes, hair bands, crayons, pencils, sharpeners, pads or coloring books, socks, flip flops, toothbrushes and toothpaste.  Then for each age group, boy or girl, we specialized the little toys - sewing kits, hot wheels cars, dolls, stuffed animals, blocks, tote bags, bead kits, stickers, card games, etc. 

We spent an afternoon sorting our year long collected gifts.  We had to buy some extra stuff to fill in, here and there.  We had a wonderful time doing this and prayed for the children and their families that will recieve these boxes.  This afternoon, we will be volunteering at a local church's Relay Center checking, sorting, and crating up boxes to head to the distribution center in Atlanta.  We did this last year and in a 3 hour period processed over 800 boxes (if I remember correctly).

Here are a few pictures of Amy & Will at work.....






Over the years, we've perfected the stuffing (or cramming) our gifts into these boxes.  We've started using plastic shoeboxes for several reasons - you can fit more in them than a regular box, the children will have a plastic box that will last longer than cardboard, and wrapping shoeboxes isn't easy.  Its lots of fun, great for all ages, a perfect way to get "into missions", a great witness to your children about giving to others, a tangible way to impact a child for Christ.

4 comments:

  1. Our youth group is participating in OCC this year. They seem really excited about it.

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  2. Making a shoebox is kind of like trying to eat 1 chip....ya just can;t stop with one!

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  3. Ben is so excited, he's 13 and can volunteer at the Atl. processing center, which is about 5 miles from our house again this year. We are going on the 1st to work and again on the 10th! I like to check the boxes before they get shipped out (looking for breakables, 'banned' items, etc) sometimes it's hard to figure out how to get everything back into the box. From my hands, they get packed in shipping boxes and the next stop is the missionary who will distribute them to the children.The next time that box gets openned is by the child who receives it as a present!
    If you ever get a chance to work at the processing centers, Do! It's a blessing.
    Brenda

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  4. Plastic boxes are GREAT for OCC! It's nice to see your kids engaging in the tradition of packing them! :)

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Welcome to the farm ~ we are a blended family with 7 children (3 are married), 4 grandsons, 5 dogs, 3 rabbits, and 15 chickens living on 3 acres in Georgia. I love crafting, sewing, cooking & canning, recipes of all kinds, reading, playing with my little buddies, family time, travel, pinterest and most of all the Lord.