With 2004 Christmas approaching, Operation Christmas Child (OCC), a massive kids-helping-kids campaign, has resumed its operation in effort to bring joy and hope to children in desperate situations around the world through gift-filled shoe boxes and the Good News of God’s love.
OCC’s main strategy is to collect, prepare, and process the millions of shoe box gifts for hand-delivery to underprivileged children all over the world. These shoe box gifts contain school supplies, toys, necessity items, candy, and letters of encouragement. Along with shoe box gifts, millions of children are given Gospel booklets in their own language.
Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian relief organization headed by Franklin Graham.
Over the years, OCC provides opportunities for people of all ages to be involved in a simple, hands-on missions project while focusing on the true meaning of Christmas—Jesus Christ, God’s greatest gift.
In 2003, individuals, families, churches, schools, and other groups in North America, Europe, and Australia gave generously so that boys and girls around the world could experience God’s love through Operation Christmas Child.
“Last year we hand-delivered more than 6.5 million gift-filled shoe boxes to hurting kids in 95 countries,” said Jim Harrelson, International Director of Operation Christmas Child. “This year we want to top that, which is why children all over America are gearing up for the project now. This will be an exciting campaign.”
Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has hand-delivered more than 31 million shoe box gifts to kids in more than 120 countries suffering from war, terrorism, disease, poverty, famine, and natural disaster.
You can be a part of promoting and coordinating Operation Christmas Child by joining a group of dedicated volunteers who plan and implement all program-related activities in your area. For more information on how to get involved, call (800) 353-5949 or visit www.samaritanspurse.org. National collection week is Nov. 15-22, 2004.
