Through Operation Christmas Child (OCC), families can make a difference for a child in need by keeping the boxes from new school shoes and filling them with small gifts.
OCC, a project of international relief, and evangelism organization Samaritan’s Purse, headed by Franklin Graham, encourage volunteers to fill shoe boxes with toys, necessities, school supplies, candy, and hand-written notes of encouragement. The gifts are then shared with children worldwide who are suffering due to natural disaster, disease, war, terrorism, famine, and/or poverty. For many of these children, the shoe box gift will be the first gift they have ever received. OCC plans to hand-deliver shoe box gifts to more than 8 million struggling children in 100 countries this year. Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has distributed shoe box gifts to more than 77 million children in some 130 countries. Last year, Seattle area families packed 15,983 shoe boxes. ♦
Step-by-step shoe box packing instructions are available at www.samaritanspurse.org. For more information on how to participate in OCC, call 253-572-1155 or visit www.samaritanspurse.org.
