Operation Christmas Child
- D Holly
- 3 hours ago
- 1 min read
Samaritan's Purse is an organization that provides disaster relief, poverty programs, and evangelistic ministries in the poorest regions of the world, led by Franklin Graham. One of their ongoing programs is Operation Christmas Child, in which Christmas gift boxes are distributed to children in struggling countries. Since the program began in 1993, 232 million children in more than 170 countries have received gift boxes from donor churches.
These boxes are the size of a shoe box, and are filled with toys, school supplies, and personal hygiene items, along with an invitation to accept Jesus Christ. The FCC youth will be packing boxes for Operation Christmas Child next week. The rest of us can help. You can pack a box yourself, or donate items for the young folks to pack, or donate money that can be used for shipping costs. Operation Christmas Child boxes will be blessed at a dedication ceremony on Sunday, November 23rd.
Samaritan's Purse has instructions for packing a shoe box and suggestions for what to include. Candy or other foods cannot be shipped, and now soap is prohibited because of customs regulations. Find other item restrictions here.
Remember, there will be millions of boxes shipped, but each one will go to a single precious child and will make a lasting impression.
The first time I came to FCC was to deliver a Operation Christmas Child box in 1999. It was a way of teaching my young daughter about giving gifts to those who would otherwise have none. I don't know for sure who greeted us that day, but I think it may have been Joyce Fox. She was wonderfully gracious, and a few years later we became an FCC family.