Operation Christmas Child Shoe Box is the world’s largest children’s Christmas program.
“Samaritan’s Purse Operations Christmas Child first delivered gift-filled shoe boxes to children in war-torn Bosnia and since then more than 77 million shoe box gifts have brought a message of hope, joy, and love to children in over 130 countries. Last season (2009), 640,569 shoe boxes were collected in Canada and distributed to children in more than 15 countries.”
The Joy of Giving!
How did I hear about Samaritan’s Purse and Operations Christmas Child?
I saw 2 shoe boxes at a family member’s house and wondered what the boxes were for. He told me that he is going to pack the box with gifts and drop the box off at the Church closest to him. He said the gift is going to be shipped to children in need around the world.
I said to myself, “Wow, this is a great idea! It is so easy to share our love and care to the needy children in desperate countries. I am going to pack the shoe boxes filled with gifts every year!”
The cost to pack a shoe box is so small to us but it meant a whole lot to the needy children. It is also a great event to spend some valuable time with your family members of all ages to go shop for the stuffs to pack the shoe box. This is also a good way to show your children how to share.
I started with packing 2 shoe boxes by myself and drop them off at the Church. I thought to myself, I can do more! Therefore I sent an email out to some of my colleagues at work to participate in this meaningful event! For the past 5 years, I have motivated staff across the company to pack shoe boxes full of gifts and love for children all over the world. They love participating in the project so much that some of them emailed me to inquire if I am organizing this again this year.
Every year, I drive to High Park Church in October to pick up the empty boxes and the brochures. I distributed the boxes and brochures to the participants. They then go shop for the gifts to fill the box. Once they are done packing the shoe box with gifts, a personal note and a picture (optional), they return the boxes to me. One of my colleague volunteers to deliver all the shoe boxes full of gifts to the Church with me on the deadline in his van every year since 2004. I am very grateful to have all the help I needed to complete the mission every year.
We started with 22 boxes in year 2004 and it grew to 250 boxes by year 2011 and we also collected $2,992 in donations to assist in the shipping cost and other causes. Our gifts were distributed to children in South American and Africa. This year, our goal is to reach 275 shoe boxes to the needy children around the world.
Below is the history of the number of boxes we packed every year:
Year 2004 – 22 Boxes
Year 2005 – 64 Boxes
Year 2006 – 89 Boxes
Year 2007 – 97 Boxes
Year 2008 – 104 Boxes, $922 donations
Year 2009 – 156 Boxes, $1,340 donations
Year 2010 – 192 Boxes, $1,865 donations
Year 2011 – 250 Boxes, $2,992 donations
Year 2012 – 274 Boxes, $2,891.13 donations
Year 2013 – 302 Boxes, $3,770.82 donations
Year 2014 – 309 Boxes, $3,888 donations
Year 2015 – 350 Boxes, $2500 donations
Year 2016 – 417 Boxes, $4,454 donations
Year 2017 – 133 Boxes, $1213 donations
Year 2018 – 150 Boxes, $2,465 donations
Year 2019 – 97 Boxes, $1,615 donations
Year 2020- 42 Boxes, $850 donations
You can do it too! Bring joy to the children during Christmas!
Please check out my home page for details on how to pack a shoe box.
Get your friends, family and co-workers to participate!
Year 2020 is here and it is time to help the children in need around the world by packing shoe-boxes filled with gifts and educational items.
Shoebox Drop-Off Locations
National Collection Week
November 16–22, 2020