Operation Christmas Child: Shoeboxes!

Since last year, I have been saving up little things for our shoeboxes.  An extra toy from the Chick-Fil-A kids meal, a free toothbrush given out at a festival, some donated fabric to create a tote or pillowcase dress... Washcloths on clearance, boxes of crayons that were only a quarter each in August, soap, & toothbrushes.  My mother & friend had donated NIP beanie babies that went, yep, you guessed it... in my shoebox tub!  It sat in the closet all year long slowly getting filled.

Our church was able to surpass our goal of 1000 boxes, so this year our goal is 1500!  I'm not sure that we will make it, but we are certainly trying to do as much as we can to help get there!

Since I was feeling overwhelmed anyways trying to figure out how to complete our boxes, it was perfect that a good friend in the small group mentioned getting together with the idea of packing together.  Amazing how God puts those people in your life, right?!  So, with Melissa's help & encouragement, we started planning.

Our small group met up several weeks ago for our own packing party.  It was kind of a last minute thing with only a week for people to sign up for items to bring.  We used a website that allows the administrator to create a list of items needs & then allows others to sign up.  It sends a reminder email & worked wonderfully.  I input different things I could think of, then added what we had already purchased throughout the year, then others in the small group added their ideas & what they had already purchased!  We even asked others outside of our small group to donate or help pack or both!

The kids were welcome at the packing party, we had taco chicken chili & peanut butter bars out for the taking, & tons of stuff all over the place.  The items were organized into "like" piles, then the guys started folding up the boxes...

At a minimum, each box contained:

** Toothbrush & Toothpaste

** Soap & Washcloth

** Crayons & Notebook or Coloring Books

** Soft Toy Animal

** Lots of Other Toys

** Pencil, Pencil Sharpener, & Extra Eraser

** Candy

** Water Bottle

For the different age groups, we also added deodorant (ages 10-14), sewing kits (girls ages 5-9, 10-14), & matchbox cars (every boy box).

We ended up packing over 50 boxes!  53 to be exact!  I am so proud of our small group in donated time & money to bless kids overseas.  It is amazing what we take for granted & how over-indulged our own children can be when a toothbrush is a prized gift to another little boy or girl.  How often do we take our resources for granted?  How difficult is it for us to take $10 out of our pocket to fill a shoebox for a child?  If you don't have the time to fill a shoebox, you can donate money to apply to shipping these shoeboxes ($7/shoebox ships it around the world) OR pack-a-box on their website...

Visit Operation Christmas Child: Pack a Shoebox for more information.  Like them on Facebook to get even more creative ideas.  But, most importantly, open your heart for ways to serve others outside of our own circle, then pray specifically & expectantly for the child that receives each of those shoeboxes.

I have also created a Pinterest board to bookmark ideas & blog posts throughout the year, if you'd like to check that out:  Operation Christmas Child 2012 Board

Looking forward to sharing more ideas soon!  Next week, I plan to post some ideas to planning a shoebox party... We definitely did a great job, but I have thought of several things to make sure we do next year when our goal will be at least 120 packed shoeboxes for our small group!

Be Blessed!