Operation Christmas Child | News

Local families are preparing for the new school year with back-to-school sales and adding more items to their lists for children in need around the world. Shoebox packers are using this time to purchase gifts and essentials to fill the Christmas in Heaven shoeboxes. Children in over 100 countries are being blessed by these gift-filled shoeboxes and the hope of Jesus.

Many children around the world cannot afford school supplies and colored pencils, crayons and markers are a luxury that many cannot afford. Olesea Makarets from Moldova, who received a shoebox as a gift, divided the markers among her siblings in her house. The colored markers were used up to the last drop and then she and her siblings dipped them in water to make them last longer.

When Makarets received a shoebox from Operation Christmas Child, she remembers what struck her most. “I couldn't take my eyes off a pack of colorful markers. My siblings and I shared the markers we had, but now I had gotten a pack for myself.” This simple gift had a profound impact on Makaret's life. She said, “When I received a shoebox as a gift, I realized that Jesus, the powerful man in the Bible, actually exists.” The power of packing school supplies in shoeboxes can change a child's life and give them a greater hope.

For more information, call 704-583-1463 or visit samaritanspurse.org/occ. National Collection Week is Nov. 18-25. Participants can donate $10 per shoebox gift online through Follow Your Box and receive a tracking label to track the destination. Those who prefer the convenience of shopping online can visit samaritanspurse.org/buildonline to select gifts tailored to a child's age and gender, then finish packing the virtual shoebox with a photo and personalized note of encouragement.

Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan's Purse, seeks to show God's love in a tangible way to children in need around the world and to work with the local church to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ worldwide. Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has collected and delivered over 220 million shoeboxes filled with gifts to children in over 170 countries and territories.