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My family is participating this year in Operation Christmas Child. I first heard about it a few weeks ago on a blog I read from England. Then, a second-time on a friend's blog in Iowa. I decided to look more into it and decided it would be a perfect way to get my family thinking about other's as we head into this holiday season.
Operation Christmas Child is a program sponsored through the organization Samaritan's Purse. Basically, you fill a shoe box with small items that will then be sent to a child in need in another part of the world. I especially like it because it costs very little money on the part of the sender. In the area I live there are always a plethora of opportunities to help needy families at Christmas time (angel trees, Toys 4 Tots, Sub 4 Santa, etc), but I always feel there's no way I could afford to fill the requirements for most of them. With Operation Christmas Child, it felt completely appropriate to use free samples I've been collecting along with a few $1-$2 items we picked up at the store. Actually, I'd bought 2 Crayola Activity boxes a little while back when they were on clearance and they worked out perfectly! The box already had markers, crayons, paints, stickers, and play-do, so we only had to add a few things more.
We filled our box tonight and I think we had success! The boys had a struggle at the grocery store picking out one truck or car to "send to a little boy." They wanted to pick out something to keep for themselves, of course. But I talked to them about why we were buying them and was surprised when we got home that they remembered and didn't fight me about giving the toys away. It was really cute to hear my 2-year-old telling his Daddy that we were giving a present to "a boy."
I'm especially looking forward to this being an opportunity that we can draw on throughout the holiday season. Part of Operation Christmas Child is being able to track where your package is going. I'm hoping to use those updates as a chance to remind us all why we gave and what we should be focusing on at Christmas time.
I'm grateful for the opportunity to teach my children to serve others.
Interested in participating in Operation Christmas Child?
Boxes are being accepted November 12-19.
Click here to find a drop-off location near you.
2 comments:
Great! Glad to hear you participated and enjoyed it. As your kids get older, they'll grasp it more and more. Now, start a small basket of things you collect over the next year and you'll be all ready to go next November! It is a nice and more frugal way to change the world one life at a time.
What a great thing! I've been wanting to do something like this as a family. It would help my kids be less selfish and more thoughtful of others. I'll definitely be looking into it.
Allison Lewis
allibird1 at aol dot com
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