One of our favorite traditions in November is to pack shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child, a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse. We have done this every year since the boys were little and I did it for years before that.
Next week is National Collection Week so I hope to get you excited to be involved:
I enjoyed meeting with other OCC Bloggers who blog about the ministry and the some of the OCC Team at Allume Conference. We enjoyed learning more about the ministry and packing shoeboxes together. Plus we had yummy sugar cookies. 🙂 But the most important thing we did was pray over the boxes and for the children who would receive them.
We also heard from Alex, a recipient of a shoebox as a child with an amazing story of forgiveness after the Rwandan genocide, who now travels with OCC and shares his story.
With Alex and Rachel of Day2Day Joys
I enjoyed sharing Alex’s story and the packing of all the shoeboxes to get the boys even more excited than they always are.
Did you know that because of people just like you helping, there have been over 100 million shoeboxes delivered around the world? But there are still so many more to reach. The goal this year is 9.8 million…wow, that is a lot!!
We enjoy talking about what things to buy, shopping together for items that we will put in the shoeboxes and packing the boxes with Christmas music playing.
I love watching the boys’ excitement as they pick out items for each shoebox. We normally purchase items throughout the year when we find things that would be great in the shoeboxes and store them in big totes. Back to School is a great time to stock up on things! Use those coupons to find great deals during the year so you can pack even more shoeboxes. We still have to add in some “fun” stuff…balls, cars, dolls, marbles, etc…
I love talking with our sons about how blessed we are and have so much. As we pack, we talk about the places the shoeboxes are going and the children that will receive them and how their lives are so much different than ours.
We talk about the workers who will process the shoeboxes and the ones who will deliver them. It is such an interesting journey the shoeboxes take! Learn more about that here.
Don’t forget to include a letter and your donation. You can do that online so you can track your box or you can put the money in an envelope with the box.
At Allume, we just wrote our letters on construction paper with markers or you can download this form to fill out and include.
The most important thing that we do…
…is pray. Pray over the boxes. Pray for the children who will receive them and that they will come to know Jesus. Pray for the workers who will help the boxes get to the child.
A Challenge: Let’s work together….
I have a goal for this community to pack 100 shoeboxes, by you at home or online.
To get this challenge started:
- Leave a comment that you plan to pack some boxes and how many you think you will pack.
- Watch the videos about how to pack a shoebox with your family. See how Uncle Si packs a shoebox and how Veggie Tales packs a shoebox.
- Pray for the children who will receive the shoeboxes. Pray for wisdom in choosing the right items for the boxes. Use this as a time to share with your children about other countries and how we need to spread the Gospel.
- Post pictures of your packed shoeboxes on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, blog, anywhere… and use hash tags #operationchristmaschild and #encouraginghomeshoeboxes {that’s us!} so we can encourage each other.
- Come back here and tell me how many shoeboxes you packed! Everyone who packs a shoebox will be entered to win some of my favorite things, including Operation Christmas Child: A Story of Simple Gifts. Other favorites will be added soon.
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Operation Christmas Child: A Story of Simple Gifts |
- Guess what? I know how hectic life is. If packing a shoebox is too overwhelming right now, you can Join my challenge online and help me meet my goal of 100 shoeboxes to be packed by this community or leave your comments below.
- We can make a difference!
Other information you may be interested in:
Have you considered hosting a packing party?
Do you know that the shoeboxes are not just dropped off without anything further? Learn about The Greatest Journey…the follow up discipleship program printed in the child’s local language to help them have a deeper understanding of God’s love.
Want to help more? Can you commit to praying?
Have more questions about how all this works? Check out the FAQ page.
My 10 year old daughter Gracie worked all year buying items with her own money and asking for donations. As of last night, she has 133 shoeboxes packed!! I’m overjoyed to see God reward her efforts.
I follow you on Instagram(aboverubiesmoms) and you told me to come join the challenge, so here I am…we packed 3 shoeboxes last week and are going to follow them online to their destination. I also ordered the book on Amazon. Year before last we packed some, but skipped last year. I am hoping to continue this as an annual activity and outreach. What a blessing. Our church got 200 boxes and all but 30 were taken. The last 30 may have been taken the past few days…not sure! So awesome! I will go back and tag my shoebox picture on instagram that I posted last week.
Am interested I can do only one shoebox where do I send it to
the samartian’s purse website will have listed drop off locations in your area, another way is to sign up on the website and they will pack a box for you if you can’t find a drop off location near to you
My 10 year old daughter Gracie has been packing all year. We are at 133 today.
Jenny, I’m interested to find out more about doing this throughout the year with my kids….did you have donated shoe boxes to store items in or did you keep the stuff somewhere? Are you paying the 7 dollars shipping out of pocket for each shoebox? Just wanted to find out more from someone who has implemented this this from home with their kids on a larger scale.
Thanks,
Brook
Jenny, I’m interested to find out more about doing this throughout the year with my kids….did you have donated shoe boxes to store items in or did you keep the stuff somewhere? Are you paying the 7 dollars shipping out of pocket for each shoebox? Just wanted to find out more from someone who has implemented this this from home with their kids on a larger scale.
Thanks so much,
Brook
Our church has passed out 637 boxes to families so far and tomorrow my daughter with her troop, American Heritage Girls, will be having a packing party with the goal of packing 60 boxes. We will be collecting the boxes on Sunday so excited to see how many our church will be bringing in.
For shipping, we set up a First Giving fundraiser page through Samaritans Purse. We made a FB page, Cup of Cold Water, to promote the fundraiser and a packing party and donations in general. I kept a large box under my sewing table and each time we bought something or received a donation it went into the big box. Most of our shoeboxes were ones we got on request from a local shoe store. People donated wrapping paper so we could wrap them. We did a big packing party at our church and a smaller one during children’s ministry one Sunday. And a lady at our church works at the Charlitte distribution center and gave us a tour since Gracie is only 10 and not old enough yet to volunteer. Check out her FB page for more details and pics on how we did it, including our wall of boxes in our living room. She’s already set a goal of 200 next year.
We packed 2 shoe boxes today! Such an awesome ministry and a fun project to get the kids involved in. Our oldest is not yet 3 and she had a blasts.
We’ll be at a packing party tomorrow! Instead of Sunday School, our whole church will have one big OCC packing party. It’s always a lot of fun and an easy way to make your dollar go far, because we can buy in bulk. We had fun shopping for our boxes today!
Our group packed 35 boxes and the church I believe has collected so far over 500, we take them to the next station this afternoon, my daughter has loved this whole thing
Hi, this was my first time participating in OCC. The Lord has been working in my life tremendously, I thank Him everyday. My grandmother told me about OCC and how she volunteers to help pack and organize the boxes. I thought it was the perfect way to help teach my daughters how good it is to help others less fortunate. We packed 10 boxes this year and plan to participate for years to come. We have prayed over them for God to use these boxes to touch the hearts of the children who will receive them. I will oust a photo on Instagram. God bless you and your boxes.
We packed 7 shoeboxes :). One for each of our children. It was a blessing seeing the children excited about blessing others! We included nativity stickers and notes from the kids, plus all of the usual things. We’ve never included our address before. It would be exciting if we heard from one of the recipients.
We packed 4 shoe boxes this year. The kids picked out items that they would love to have – from socks and toothbrushes, to jump ropes and sketch pads. They had a wonderful time thinking of children using the items in the coming year. Both of my children wrote letters to the recipients, wishing them a blessed Christmas. We also added our address, in case the children wish to write back – I know my kids would LOVE that!