Operation Christmas Child

This year the boys and I took part in Operation Christmas Child, a wonderful learning and gifting experience for Big Brother. You pack a shoe box sized box with all sorts of fun and useful items, and the boxes get shipped to needy children around the world. You choose which gender you would like and which age group. We did two boxes. One for a girl age 2-4 and one boy age 2-4.

Operation Christmas Child is sponsored by Samaritan's Purse International Relief and the mission is to demonstrate God's love in a tangible way to needy children around the world. We had a drop off location at a nearby church and had a great time shopping and putting together our boxes. It was a great project for Big Brother to see how we can help someone less fortunate.

On Samaritan's Purse website you can find out all the information you need to pack a box. A great list of good items to include and what not to include. Below are pictures of everything we were able to fit in each of our boxes. Quite a bit of stuff when you consider the size. We were able to pack each box with goodies for about $10 in stuff and another $7 to cover shipping costs. So for $17 we can bring cheer and delight to a needy child! An awesome feeling!

Boys Box: Cars Band Aids, Coloring book & crayons, Hot Wheels Car, Car Track Mat, Wash Cloths, Kleenex Pack, 2 Cups, Toothbrush & Toothpaste in little pouch with stickers, Cars Socks, Noteook, Bowl, Spoon & Fork, School Bus Book, Mini Slinky, Snacks, puzzle cube, Pencil and candy.

Girls Box: Strawberry Shortcake Band Aids, Princess Coloring Book & Crayons, Doll, Wash Cloths, Kleenex Pack, 2 Cups, Toothbrush & Toothpaste in little pouch with stickers, Hello Kitty Socks, Noteook, Bowl, Spoon & Fork, School Bus Book, Mini Slinky, Snacks, puzzle cube,Pencil and candy.

This week November 12-19 is collection week for the boxes with drop off locations all over the country. However you can ship completed boxes year round to the Samaritan Purse headquarters at:

Operation Christmas Child
Samaritan's Purse
P.O. Box 3000
801 Bamboo Road
Boone, NC 28607

If you make your $7 shipping donation online you will receive a special tracking code to put on your box. You can then get email updates on your box location and where it ended up. So fun! We even put a little letter and pictures in our box in hopes we may hear back from the children who receive our packages.

There is still some time if you would like to participate in Operation Christmas Child. Check out the Samaritan's Purse website for all the details and locations and give one or more needy children have an amazing Christmas this year!