Friendsgiving Meets OCC

Wow I had to dig deep into my archives to find the last time I wrote about one of my very favorite organizations. Samaritan's Purse puts together Operation Christmas Child every year. It's an opportunity to share joy, love and giving with children that I've held close to my heart for many years now. It was one of the first things Kevin and I added to our family traditions list, also on that list is our Compassion child.


If you've never heard of this awesome opportunity, Operation Christmas Child begun in 1993 and takes shoe boxes filled with gifts by people like you, to children around the world who truly wouldn't receive gifts. There's so much more to this than my little one liner here so I encourage you to check out this link in order to find out more.


You can choose an age group and gender.Then you fill up your box with some necessities like a new toothbrush, toothpaste, and socks, and you also put in a few toys or games. Don't forget to include $7 as a donation for shipping and handling of the box (which you can either put in as cash, check or do online with a credit card). You can wrap it up but the box must still be open-able so Samaritan's Purse can collect the $7 and just make sure the box is appropriately filled.. Check here for more information.

Here are some ideas on what you can pack:

Things to know:
-Drop off is SOON! November 17-24 Find out where you can drop off your box here.
-Frequently asked questions? Check out this link.
-Want to give but don't have time to go out to stores? Check out this virtual pack-a-box option.
-Spread the word! Get the graphics and other sharing techniques here.

SO GET OUT THERE and pack up your gifts because, IT'S SHOE BOX TIME!
And join A Beautiful Exchange, myself and other bloggers on the link up for OCC.

There have been 113 million shoe boxes sent since 1993 when it all began. Let's broaden that number even more this year!

We are doing a party with our small group to put together boxes. We plan on making a friendsgiving out of it too. Every one will bring a dish of food, and their items for the boxes. Together we will eat some yummy food, assemble boxes, write notes to the kids, and pray over each box. I'm really looking forward to it. So that's just one idea how to make it even more fun!


Our Boxes from 2012:

Pearls:
-This may be the only gifts these children get so be sure and fill it with some fun little toys as well as the necessities. And be sure and send simple toys, nothing too fancy or electronic because they may not have access to batteries or electricity
- Write them a little letter, someone will translate it and it'll make it feel even more personal.
- Do this with all your heart in it, put yourself in the shoes of these kids.And Pray for this child.
- Everyone wants to do the little kids but there's lots of older kids too so don't leave them out!