November 15, 2013

Operation Christmas Child

Even though I am not a Christmas fan, I still try to do something special for kids during the holiday season. Earlier this month, a co-worker send out an e-mail promoting Operations Christmas Child. I had never heard of it and was eager to find out more.

Operations Christmas Child provides an opportunity for people of all ages to be involved in a simple, hands-on project.  It was started in 1990 by Dave Cooke, a Welshman who felt moved to deliver gifts to Romanian orphans after seeing their living circumstances on television.  In 1993, Operations Christmas Child grew and was adopted by Samaritan's Purse, a Christian organization run by Franklin Graham.

How it works
You basically need to fill a shoebox for a girl or a boy full of small gift such as school supplies, hygiene items, socks, t-shirts, hair clips, musical instruments etc. They also encourage you to include a personal note and/or a photo.  You also need to include $7 per box to cover shipping and other project-related cost.

The filled shoe boxes needed to be returned this week for logistic purposes. It was so much fun to do!  I heard that older boys do not receive as many boxes as girls, therefore, I choose to fill 2 boxes for boys for the ages 10-14.

Here is what I included in both shoe boxes ~

  • a button down shirt
  • a pair of underwear
  • a simple blue, red and white very bouncy ball
  • a couple of bags of hard candy 
  • a toothbrush
  • some dices since a deck of standard playing cards were not allowed due to regulations.
  • 2 Matchbox small cars
  • Pirate tattoos
  • and my favourite item... a Scooby Doo Christmas Song Card. Every time I received a signing card... it brings a smile to my face so hopefully, I will be able to achieve the same for a couple of  boys somewhere in this world during the festive season.




Do you do something special for kids during the holidays??

P.S.  Leaving tomorrow for a 48 hour shopping with the hubby and in-laws to the Premium Outlets near Syracuse NY.  Happy me!!

3 comments:

  1. This is so sweet and such a nice idea! I like all the gifts you decided to fill the box with!

    Enjoy the outlets!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. We usually donate to Toys for Tots, and we contribute items to send to soldiers overseas.

    Enjoy NY!

    ReplyDelete