Operation Christmas Child begins shoe box campaign

Operation Christmas Child, an international nonprofit organization, is asking the people of Yuma to begin donating much needed humanitarian supplies which will be given to children around the globe.

“Last year, Yuma families packed over 1,800 shoe boxes that were sent to needy children around the world — meaning families in Yuma personally impacted more than 1,800 lives halfway across the world!” said Jennifer Butler, a worker with OCC.

“You probably are not thinking about Christmas yet, but families in Yuma are already gearing up. We want to tell the Yuma community about Operation Christmas Child so families will have time to pack their boxes and get involved before the busy Christmas season arrives. This year, Yuma has a goal to collect 2,500 shoeboxes — meaning Yuma families could personally impact 2,500 lives around the world!”

OCC encourages families to keep the box from their children's new school shoes and fill them with toys, necessity items, school supplies, candy and hand-written notes of encouragement. These gifts are then shared with children in need worldwide who are suffering because of natural disaster, disease, war, terrorism, famine and poverty.

“With all the sales on back-to-school items, this is the perfect time to start buying items for a shoe box,” said Andrea Uhl, the southwest regional director for OCC.

“It's such an incredible blessing to be involved in a project that lets kids who are suffering in other parts of the world know that someone really cares about them.”

OCC plans to hand-deliver the shoe box gifts to more than 8 million struggling children in 100 countries this year.

OCC is not limited to just a few weeks a year, but is a year-round project, requiring months of organization and preparation to reach the millions of kids around the world, its website stated.

Since 1993, OCC has distributed shoe box gifts to more than 77 million children in some 130 countries.

For many of these children, the shoe box gift will be the first gift they have ever received, letting them know they are loved and not forgotten, OCC stated in a press release.

OCC is sponsored by Samaritan's Purse, a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Since 1970, Samaritan's Purse has helped meet the needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease and famine.

After selecting an empty shoe box, determine whether it is intended for a boy or a girl. Then chose an age category — 2 to 4, 5 to 9 or 10 to 14.

A label with this information can be downloaded online at http://www.samaritanspurse.org/pdf/PackABoxwithLabels.pdf.

After printing the label, attach it to the top of the box.

The next step is to fill the box with goodies, hygiene items and a hand-written note.

Do not include used or damaged items; war-related items such as toy guns, knives or military figures; chocolate or food; out-of-date candy; liquids or lotions; medications or vitamins; breakable items such as snow globes or glass containers; or aerosol cans.

A monetary donation of at least $7 is requested for each shoe box prepared to help cover shipping and logistical costs. Checks made out to OCC can be placed in an envelope on top of the gift items inside of the box. If preparing more than one shoe box, donations should be combined into one envelope.

The shoe box should then be mailed to Samaritan's Purse, Operation Christmas Child, 801 Bamboo Road, Boone, NC 28607.

The national collection week for the shoeboxes will be from Nov. 15-22.

For more information, call 1-800-353-5949 or log onto www.samaritanspurse.org.