Operation Christmas Child is a wonderful ministry by Samaritan's Purse. This ministry delivers these filled shoeboxes worldwide to children who may never have received a gift before in their lives! This is a ministry our family supports and we all love.
Filling a shoebox with school supplies, toys, toothbrushes, soap and toothpaste is fun. My goal is to pack the box with as much stuff as I can get in it...so I have learned the fine art of "cramming a box full". AND it really doesn't cost alot of money to participate.
The best time to buy crayons, pencils, & spiral notebooks is during the back to school sales and the sales after school is back when the store slash prices to make room for the holiday goodies. Boxes of Crayola crayons for .20 make me smile!
We are teaching our own children about tithing on their earnings. This year, they took 10% + of their earnings from entering crafts in the State Fair and bought their own shoebox fillers. I will keep this tradition up every year. They had a great time at the Dollar Tree picking out their goodies. Much thought went into each item and it was much more meaningful than me buying the stuff and handing it to them.
You can go to the Samaritan's Purse site or to the Operation Christmas Child site for ideas, drop off places for the boxes, and videos of precious children worldwide opening their goodies (warning to tender hearted folks...watching these videos will make you cry, I do!).
We ALL have so many material possessions, why not share. If its too late for you to share this year, why not plan on next year? Look for sales throughout the year on little goodies that can be tucked into boxes. If you want to be super organized about it...have a specific box or shelf in your home these items can be put into as soon as they are purchased (I need to do this!). The websites have guides of what to put in a box AND what not to put in a box.
Sometimes, I get brilliant ideas in the middle of the night...it happened last night. If your children are like mine, they have an over abundance of possessions. Instead of throwing a birthday party and children bringing the birthday child gifts, what about them bringing gifts for shoeboxes? They could be put in a large box for everyone to ooh and ahhh over and then stashed away for shoebox packing time.
Our homeschool group had a shoebox packing party on Friday night. We all shared a meal of hot dogs, chili, chips and cookies. Then the boxes were packed...lots of fun and chaos! After the boxes all the kids...ages 3-21 watched a Veggie Tales movie about the boxes and munched on popcorn. It was a fun night and really focused our childrens attention on GIVING.
Operation Christmas Child has a new box tracker this year. You can pay for the box shipping online, $7 per box then print out your labels at home. Each label will have a bar code that will be scanned in the processing center and then when they are put on a plane bound for a specific location. We will then get emails saying where are boxes are headed AND some information and specific prayer requests from missionaries in the region. This will be a wonderful geography tool and prayer request tool.
After the boxes were packed and the children were still gathered together, we prayed for the children who will receive these gifts.
After the boxes were packed and the children were still gathered together, we prayed for the children who will receive these gifts.
I love the banners ... they have added some new ones since I put them on my blog ... I'm going to have to check it out!
ReplyDeleteIt was a great night, wasn't it? This is one of the greatest ministries we have ever participated in, it just warms the heart and soul. And I love the tracking!
ReplyDeleteWe use to do the shoeboxes at our church at home. It was so much fun. Now, we do the World Vision Christmas catalog. I miss the shoeboxes though.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great activity for a homeschool group!!
ReplyDeleteOperation Christmas Child is such a great organization! The CollegePlus! office in San Antonio has been able to get involved quite a bit this year and it's been humbling to find out all the things OCC does. There's such a huge need out there.
ReplyDeleteIt was fun to read about your fun with this. We are really enjoying it too. Last year was our first year, this year we started earlier and are trying to put a lot of thought into it. My kids really love it and ask often to go work on the shoeboxes. It is so fun to think about what little kid it may be going to and what their situation might be.
ReplyDeleteAnswering your question from my blog here: I live on the Georgia coast. Moved here from Albany, GA on October 1st. Enjoying coastal life so far . . . . will enjoy it more when I am done with the cardboard jungle!
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