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Bloggers for Boxes: Operation Christmas Child


It is the world's largest Christmas project.

At church this past Sunday, our theme was Operation Christmas Child. If you're not already familiar with the program, Operation Christmas Child began in the United States in 1993 with 28,000 shoe box gifts. Since that time, the kids-helping-kids project has collected more than 69 million shoe box gifts and hand-delivered them to needy children in 145 countries.

I sat down with my little guy after church, told him about the boxes and about little boys and girls that don't get anything for Christmas and asked him if he'd like to help me fill a box for a little boy or girl to make them smile on Christmas morning. With a big smile, he said yes!

That made me want to continue to spread the word about this program. We watched a video at church about the program and they had "Bikers for Boxes" and I thought, hey, why not have "Bloggers for Boxes"?
I ask that you repost this on your site, or include the Bloggers for Boxes icon in a post to link to this post to promote this great program. You can also take a picture of your box, or your little one putting the box together, or the items you sent in your box, and post it on your blog to give other people ideas and spread the joy of helping others.

How it works:

Simply fill a box with items for a boy or girl (popular items include flashlight with batteries, a slinky, sunglasses) More details on how to pack a shoebox are here. One quick trip to the dollar store will get you lots of great items for a box or two!

It's suggested that you also send a letter and a picture to the person receiving the box, the personalize the gift. A fun coloring worksheet for your little one to help with this can be found here.

Shoe box gifts can be dropped off at one of more than 2,400 collection sites located in all 50 states. National Collection Week is Nov. 16-23. To find the nearest location, call (800) 353-5949 or visit http://www.samaritanspurse.org/

The Operation Christmas Child ministry extends far beyond a gift-filled shoe box. A primary goal of the project is to offer children the opportunity to participate in the Operation Christmas Child Discipleship Program, and to give every graduate a New Testament in their local language.

Comments

  1. I think this is a wonderful idea. That's what we are doing for christmas.............

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  2. I think this is a great idea.. and we will be putting boxes together. I also went on their site and ordered some promo materials and we are going to have a houseparty for this! Thanks!

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  3. We try to do this every year! A friend who has worked in Africa told us to try and use a plastic box if we can- in many places the children can use those to bring water from the village well.

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  4. I have done this every year since I was a little girl! Great post idea! Xo

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  5. I love this program...the kids and I participate every year!!!
    sandy toe

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  6. We do this at our church too and it is one of my favorite things! It makes me so thankful : )

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  7. The dollar tree makes this so simple! They have all the supplies set aside and lots of good ideas for various themed boxes. I can't wait to put mine together.

    http://www.dollartree.com/custserv/custserv.jsp?pageName=TreeboxGiving

    Thanks for posting this!

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  8. What a wonderful idea! I just posted about it, and linked back to you :)

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  9. I absolutely love this idea! Just posted it on my blog!

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  10. How did I miss this post?!! Great idea! Thanks SO much! Hope your having a great weekend! = )

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