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.
