5 Reasons to Pack a Shoebox

Operation Christmas Child (OCC) is a Samaritan’s Purse ministry that takes shoebox gifts to children in over 100 countries.  OCC participants fill standard sized shoe boxes with toys, toiletries, and school supplies and drop them off at local collection sites to be processed and delivered.  I am a passionate supporter of this ministry and collection week is right around the corner (November 13-20).  So, I wanted to make sure you have heard about Operation Christmas Child and give you 5 reasons to participate.

#5 Fun and Easy

Samaritan’s Purse has made this as easy as possible.  You can use any shoebox, select a gender/age group, fill it up, and drop it off at one of the thousands of collection sites nationwide.  You can purchase items according to your budget or even send homemade gifts.  You get to pick the gender and age group, so if you would have more fun shopping for a 2-4 year old girl and picking out tiny pink hair barrettes, go for it!  If you want to send a young boy a soccer ball and water bottle, that’s great too!  You to get shop according to what you get excited about and how you feel God is leading you.

It is also a fun team building activity.  Your office, sports team, or Sunday school class could work together to pack a box or two.  My eighth grade volleyball team set a goal to pack two boxes at our end of the season party.  They were excited to participate and enjoyed doing this together.

Items brought in by the team I coached

#4 Free Chick-fil-A

Chick-fil-A locations across the nation have partnered with OCC and are hosting collection events.  Both locations nearest to my home (Coon Rapids and Northtown) are participating.  If you take your packed shoebox there on November 20^th, 5-7 pm, you receive a free food offer.  Not every location is participating, but if you do some research you can probably find one close to you! Each location is offering different freebies.  Ask around!

From a Collection Event last year

#3 Great Family Activity

Often times, families feel like they have less opportunity to participate in international missions because of their small children.  This is a terrific way to give your kids hands-on experience and be directly involved in international missions.  I have been packing boxes since I was kid, and I loved knowing that my gifts were going to some little girl on the other side of the world who was going to hear the gospel when she received her box.  Kids get excited about this!  Through their participation they have the opportunity to pray for and bless hurting kids in other countries and personally experience ‘it is better to give than receive’ (Acts 20:35). 

 #2 Joy to Impoverished Areas

Most of the boxes are delivered to parts of the world where this is the only Christmas present these children will receive and often even the first gift they have EVER received.  You will be surprised by how much great stuff you can fit in your box.  OCC encourages you to pack hygiene products and school supplies, because many of the recipients don’t have access to these things.  The things that most kids I know would be disappointed to receive are the most prized gifts.  I encourage you to check out a few of the “Shoe Box Stories” to hear the recipients tell about how delighted they were to receive soap, no longer have to share a toothbrush, or to actually have the things they needed for school.  But you may want to make sure you are at home so you don't have to tell any of your co-workers that it's just allergies or that you got something in your eye.  Yea, these stories are that moving. 

Yes, ALL of that went into ONE box!

#1 Shoeboxes Spread the Gospel

These gifts have opened up so many doors for the Church in communities that were previously completely closed off to the gospel.  At almost every event where the boxes are distributed, the gospel is presented.  Kids are told verbally about God’s love for them, and then they are handed tangible concrete evidence of that love.  At many of these events kids are invited to return to a weekly discipleship program where local trained volunteers teach them what it means to be a Christian and how to share their faith with others.  There are countless stories about children sharing their faith with their households, and then their relatives begin attending the discipleship classes.  Then, after the graduation ceremony many of these houses band together to form a church.  It happens time and time again where eternal strongholds for the gospel begin as a small shoebox gift.
These boxes are delivered to over 100 different nations.   Even some nations with government restrictions on religion still allow these boxes to be brought in, because they meet needs and bring tremendous blessings to entire communities.  Every box is covered in prayer and is a physical manifestation of God’s love, a source of hope, and often times a direct answer to prayer.

Operation Christmas Child is a blessing to everyone involved.  If you would like to learn more about how you can participate, their website is a great resource.  Hopefully, you already visited a few of the links throughout this post.  You can also comment below with any questions you have and I will do my best to answer them.  Trust me, you do not want to miss out on this opportunity!