Sunday, November 19, 2006

Operation Christmas Child III

Photobucket - Video and Image HostingOperation Christmas Child ends Monday. Well, not really. But the collection period ends Monday.

The grandchildren took their boxes to the Church this morning, the deadline at the Church, so they can get the boxes to the regional collection point on Monday.

They had a great time picking out the items for the shoe boxes. And were delighted to take them into Sunday School this morning. As you can see by the picture, others dropped theirs off today, too. And this is just a part of the total brought in today. More came in before services started.
This is the first year the grandchildren participate in Operation Christmas Child. It won't be the last.

If you're not familiar with Operation Christmas Child, look into it. It's a program of Samaritan's Purse:
Samaritan's Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Since 1970, Samaritan's Purse has helped meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God's love through His Son, Jesus Christ.

The organization serves the Church worldwide to promote the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Samaritan's Purse is run by Rev. Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham. And Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan's Purse. It's to "share the joy of Christmas and the love of Jesus Christ with suffering children around the world."

Operation Christmas Child delivers shoe boxes to children in need. And it was heartwarming to see the grandchildren taking part.

The boxes they filled were overflowing. So much so that, Saturday night, the Wife and I were running from store to store trying to find rubber bands big enough to hold the boxes closed. We never found any (didn't want to drive all the way into town, so we tried to hit the stores outside town) so we ended up using hair bands ... I think that's what they're called. They're elastic and are for fixing hair. But they're big. About the size of a Pizza Hut Personal Pan Pizza. Anyway, that's what we finally had to get to hold the boxes closed.

If you'd still like to participate in Operation Christmas Child, get a shoebox, fill it with items from the suggested list, and get it to one of the collection centers. If you don't have time to make it this year (Monday's the deadline for 2006), but would like to help, you can donate to Samaritan's Purse.

While it's nice to think about the pleasure the gifts will give the children on the receiving end, it was great watching the pleasure with which the grandchildren picked out the gifts for their shoeboxes. Christmas is indeed the season of giving.

4 comments:

  1. I've loved this project since I heard of it several years ago. Our son and I did it for a few years and got his class involved at school. My mother in law's office does it every year, too.

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  2. Samaritan's Purse is the volunteer group that pu a blue roof on my sister Denise's house after Hurricane Katrina. They are a great bunch of folks and have really helped us in Mississippi.

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  3. Once again, thank you for posting information about Samaritan's Purse and Operation Christmas Child on your blog. Your support and participation in this important ministry is greatly appreciated.

    If readers cannot get shoeboxes to a collection center in time, they can always mail them to the Boone, NC office through the first week in December. The address can be found on our website at www.samaritanspurse.org.

    Sincerely,

    Darren Mullenix
    Director of Development Operations
    Samaritan's Purse

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  4. I got involved in this project in 1998 after I discovered a shoe box collection point was needed in are part of Ca. I opened an unofficial drop-off point in 1999. In 2000 we began serving as an official OCC Collection Center in Red Bluff. As of last year, 45,000 shoe boxes have passed through us. This year, Collection Centers were established in Redding and Chico. We served as a relay site this year. I can't wait to hear the final totals for this year.
    Jay Nelson

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