One charity that is very near and dear to my heart is Operation Christmas Child. This year Operation Christmas Child will reach more than 8.5 million children to let them know that they are loved and not forgotten.
To participate, fill a traditional sized shoe box or a plastic shoe box storage container with items appropriate for a child in one of the following age groups:
- 2-4 Girl
- 2-4 Boy
- 5-9 Girl
- 5-9 Boy
- 10-14 Girl
- 10-14 Boy
We usually go to the Dollar Tree and select items that they would like. We also add hard candy (that won’t melt) and a letter from us to the child. Sometimes we even include a picture of our family.
Here are a few ideas:
- Crayons or markers
- Coloring book
- Stickers
- Small toys
- Doll
- Stuffed Animal
- Balls
- Jacks
Once you have assembled your box, you can visit the Samaritans Purse website to download and print your label for your box. You will need to include a check for $7 to cover the shipping for the box. You can also give your donation online using the Follow Your Box Donation method. This will enable you to track your boxes and know where in the world it ends up!
Samaritan’s Purse will be collecting gift-filled shoe boxes at more than 2,900 drop-off sites in all 50 states and Puerto Rico during National Collection Week, Nov. 12th – 19th, 2012. To find the nearest drop-off location, call (800) 353-5949 or visit samaritanspurse.org/occ.
Here are some very interesting facts about Operation Christmas Child that you might not know:
- It is the world’s largest Christmas project of its kind.
- The number of children who have received Operation Christmas Child shoe box gifts since 1993 (86 million) exceeds the populations of the United Kingdom and Australia combined.
- Operation Christmas Child uses whatever means necessary—truck, boat, plane, helicopter, bike, donkey, dog sled, even elephant—to bring shoe boxes to children in more than 100 countries.
Plus look for more posts on Operation Christmas Child this week.
We also do this thru our church every year. it’s fun for the kids to shop for things to fill the box. looking forward to being able to track it them this year.
I can’t find info, so maybe one of you wonderful ladies can answer for me: Is it okay to pack flip flops? I was looking at the website and saw that some of the kids wanted shoes, I figured Flip flops are the best bet not having to worry about size, but is that okay? Thanks in Advance!
I’m definitely doing this with my four year old!! It’s hard to find places to donate/volunteer where he can actually be involved, this will be GREAT!
Just finished packing mine. I was also told to double zip bag everything. So I put candy in a snack zip bag and then all the small bags into a bigger zip bag.
This project has a special place in my heart because as a child, my husband received a box for Christmas one year, as he was growing up in a developing country. He still remembers how special it was.
One thing I would note is to be careful packing soap and anything edible together (not sure if you’re even allowed to pack edibles or not) but I helped distribute shoe boxes one year (not though Operation Christmas child) and someone had packed soap and candy and the children said the candy tasted like soap.
The buddy soap bars are wrapped in plastic. I wonder if it still took on the soap taste?
Thanks so much for recommending us. We are so blessed to have supporters like you who make it all possible,
I would add that this is an actual cause that reaches children. I was on a mission trip in Tajikistan (close to Afghanistan) and was visiting an orphanage for the day. While there playing with the kids I actually saw a large box that was marked Operation Christmas Child on the outside. I of course started crying just knowing that the boxes that I had packed may have ended up here with these children who were truly deserving of those gifts! This organization is amazing and the gifts really do get to the children around the world. AWESOME!
This is awesome, thank you for posting!
This will be our 3rd year particiapting. We do 2 boys and 2 girls and I collect stuff through the year.
Our boxes have went to Zimbabwe and Peru and this a great geogprahical learning experience for my 8 yo daughter as well.
I shop year round for OCC and have a huge tub full of stuff, I hit the $spot when it is clearanced and Mikes and Jos when they clearance stuff as well. My daughter saves her “save” money all year and then goes and buys the dolls and stuffed animals for the boxes. We pack 3-4 from home and track they shipping and then the rest of the stuff I take into church for AWANA kiddos to pack into boxes.
If anyone would like more information, clipwithpurpose.com has helped me out a lot with ideas and information that is more detailed. Jessica is very passionate about OCC and blogs everyday with tips, ideas and encouragement.
We have done this several times and I actually finished packing our 3 boxes today. One for each of our own children. We let them help pick out stuff for their boxes that we send. We have been colecting stuff since last Christmas. We are looking forward to dropping our boxes off next month.
We did this last year… it was something tangible that my girls were able to do. They are always so serious about what should go in the shoe box! I plan on paying online this year so we can track our boxes! What a wonderful organization!
Our day care center participates every year! It is one of the many things our parents look forward to helping with. As a family we like to choose to do a box from each of our boys and we usually do girl boxes because we don’t normally get to buy for girls. I like to buy a shirt or other clothing item that will roll easily and not take up much room in the box. We usually get something from the clearance racks at target and their dollar section. Socks, tooth brushes, toothpaste, and other toiletry items are very helpful! I love the idea of donating online allowing you the opportunity to see which country your box goes to! Thanks for sharing and hopefully others will be able to participate too!
Love it! How have I never heard of this before?!?! I looked at their web site and saw what they are doing for children with heart defects as well. I have a daughter with a heart defect and I can only imagine the joy they bring to the families when they are able to provide life saving heart surgeries for these kids. Amazing group. I think I will have my daughter put together a box.
Thanks for describing what OCC is about. I couldn’t help crying when I read this article. I definitely want to do this!! Any ideas for the 2-4 age range?
We put in things like socks and hats. Little toys, toothbrushes. crayons, small color books. Anything and everything a kid would enjoy. We do this with our religious ed group every year. Didn’t see it up there but it does ask to stay away from any type of “war” toy like guns, swords, knifes, soliders, ect. and also anything liquid. We do hard candy, lollypops too. Oh and play dough. I look out after halloween for the trick or treat packs to go on clearance. Picked up a bag of them (24 I think) for like a buck(they also make great stocking stuffers)
We did socks,colorful character toothbrushes, a johnson’s buddies bar, ponytail holders, colorful notepads, markers and crayons, a coloring book (full size and put it on the bottom of the box), board books, stickers, a yoyo, a whistle, age appropriate playing cards. We went to the dollar tree to get a lot of our stuff for this year. My kids and I love doing this every year! :)
Thank you for sharing! I have been thinking of what to do with some of the extra toys I picked up during the Target and Kmart toy sales this summer. I can’t wait to send out a few boxes.
I couldn’t read this article and tell my kids about it without choking back my tears. We are definitely going to do this.
My church did a Christmas in July and we did 300+ boxes for OCC. My daughter and I love making these together.
This is great! Thank you for the idea!
We do this thru our church. Along with the “usual” stuff, I put a Johnson’s Buddy soap in the box too!
man i didnt think about that–my daughter does this at her wed night church -heart and soul- and they took in soap already-i could still have her take it in anyway i gues – next week is school supplies then toys!