Operation Christmas Child

Operation Christmas Child is an amazing Samaritan's Purse program. I've been leading it at my church since I was in sixth grade, so this is my fifth year! The first year, I collected about 30 boxes and last year we collected 59. It doesn't sound like much, but my church is tiny (we have about 75 active members) and if you think about it, that's 59 kids whose lives are touched, so I think it's pretty amazing! This year Samaritan's Purse's goal is to collect 100 million! So my goal, with the help of my church, is to collect 100. Last Sunday, I started passing out the empty shoe boxes. I cannot wait to get them back and look at the goodies! I seriously have so much fun looking through all the toys. I would love it if some of y'all could put together some boxes and maybe even get some of your friends involved! Here are a few things that are great for the boxes:

• Bouncy Balls, yoyo's, slinky's, stuffed animals, dolls, toy cars and other small toys (they just ask you don't include any war related toys, like toy guns)
• Toothbrush and Toothpaste- I like to buy the set with a plastic pouch. I feel like the plastic pouch is a way for them to keep it clean. You can get the sets at Walmart or Target for $1. It's also cost effective if you're making a ton of boxes.
• Soap and Washcloth- I've heard the kids love this, because they have to share bath water and they feel if they have their own soap and washcloth, they're clean.
• Flashlight with Extra Batteries- A lot of the countries the boxes go to have power outages and flashlights are great.
• School Supplies- crayons, notebooks, pencils, pens, markers, erasers
• Hard Candy- lollipops, smarties, peppermints, and gum are great, just no chocolate or other food
• Hair Brushes, Combs, and Hair Clips
• T-Shirts and Socks

National Collection Week is November 12-19. You can find your local drop off location here and here's more information about OCC.