This past week, a few little neighborhood elves joined me as I began packing the toiletry items, toys, and school supplies my sister, Tammy, and I have purchased for Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child boxes. Our boxes have to be packed in a certain order so that all the items we’ve purchased will fit and my helpers caught on in no time. With their help, we packed nine boxes toward the goal of twenty-five.
This year, national collection
week is November 18-25, so you have almost three months to get those boxes
ready, but if you start now, you may be able to pack more boxes because every
year the need increases. Since 1993 when Operation Christmas Child began,
Samaritan’s purse has distributed more than 220 million boxes to children in
over 170 countries. To many of those children, this box will be the only gift
they receive all year. I’ve mentioned here before that children in orphanages sometimes
share toothbrushes and their favorite item is not the toy but having their own toothbrush
for the first time.
Along with the box, an invitation
is also extended to attend a Greatest Journey Bible study. More than twenty million
children have accepted Jesus as their Savior through this study. So, with every
box goes the opportunity to meet Jesus for the first time.
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| Bev and Tammy with 2023 Operation Christmas Child Boxes |
Instead of packing a box, you may also give toward Operation Christmas Child, and they will pack a box for you. Also, some churches have programs where they purchase items in bulk and offer their folks an opportunity to pack boxes in that way.
I was so impressed with my helper
elves this week. They had several good ideas while packing, but a favorite one was to create a color theme—making sure everything in
the box was red, pink, blue, or green. We talked about how when a child opens a
box, we want them to be overjoyed at what they see, and color is a terrific way
to do it.
I’ve had the privilege of having
my writing included in a couple of Christmas collections from Grace Publishing
including Celebrating Christmas. No author in these books receives a
royalty but royalties are donated to Samaritan’s Purse. You could buy these
books for gifts and donate to Samaritan’s Purse at the same time.
For more information on how to
pack a box, visit the Samaritan’s Purse website which I will link to at the
end.
Happy packing and thanks for all you do for Operation Christmas Child!
"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these" (Mark 10:14).
Grace Publishing, Celebrating Christmas
Her blog, One Ringing Bell, has nearly 1,000 posts in its archives. Her work has been featured on World Radio, in the Upper Room Magazine, a dozen anthologies, as well as other periodicals, and online sites. One of her screenplays was a finalist for the prestigious Kairos Prize in screenwriting. More at link in bio.