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What is Operation Christmas Child: Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan’s Purse, an international relief organization. The project provides local partners around the world with shoeboxes filled with small toys, hygiene items, and school supplies as a means of reaching out to children in their own communities with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Boxes are sent to churches ministering to children affected by war, poverty, natural disaster, famine, and disease. (Click for more details)

What are we doing this year? Our church has participated in Operation Christmas Child for over a decade! Many years we’ve packed our boxes together at packing parties with supplies that have been donated and sorted. Other years, we’ve packed boxes at home with our families. This year we’re doing a hybrid! We’ve got some materials collected – and you’ll add others on your own. Then we’ll take all the boxes to the collection point.

When will we pack boxes? Beginning October 5, you can pick up an Operation Christmas Child Box along with a bag of standard gift items. The box will include instructions for completing, labeling, praying, and returning the box by November 2. Additional copies of the instructions will be available at the Welcome Center or by contacting the church office. If you have questions, contact the church office and one of our OCC coordinators will get back to you.

Are there extra supplies from donations the church has received? The church has routinely collected donations of supplies for Operation Christmas Child. We have kept and sorted the supplies and used them to fill the bags ready for you to pick up. We had some extra donations from 2023 and have taken them to Roxbury Church of Christ in Janesville, which has a church packing event and handles local collections for this area of the state. Everything donated for OCC will be used for this ministry.

Is a cash donation needed for each box? Samaritan’s Purse asks for a $10 donation per box to cover collection, quality control and delivery costs. We’ve been blessed with generous donations (particularly from 2023) and have sufficient funds already to cover the 100 boxes we are hoping to pack at home. There is no immediate need for cash donations for Operation Christmas Child boxes from our church. Of course, if God’s is nudging you to give, our Outreach Ministry or Samaritan’s Purse itself can always put your funds to good use in advancing God’s Kingdom!

Where will our boxes go? The labels we attached to the boxes include a scan-code. Before we send the boxes to the collection point, we’ll scan the codes and this will tell us where our boxes go. As soon as we know, we’ll share this information with you.

Every box is important! It provides an opportunity to tell a child (and their family) about God’s love, about how Jesus came to demonstrate that love. Pray as you select items and pack your box – pray that it will bear fruit in God’s Kingdom – drawing people to Jesus and changing their lives forever.