Christmas is a special time of the year. Most of us gather with our friends and families and exchange gifts during the holiday season. We search long and hard for that perfect gift that our loved ones will never forget. For children in other areas of the world, Christmas is just another day, filled with the same pain and struggles they face during the other 364 days of the year. This year, you can help to change their lives, one shoebox at a time.

In 1993, Samaritan’s Purse, under the direction of Franklin Graham, began a program called Operation Christmas Child. They collected and gave out 28,000 shoebox gifts to children that year and since then, they have delivered over 48 million shoe box gifts to children in over 120 countries. This year, they hope for even more gifts than ever before.

The boxes are prepared by individuals, just like you and me. You can make a couple of boxes as a family or as a group of friends. After you fill your box with appropriate gifts (see the list on the Operation Christmas Child page of the Samaritan’s Purse web site), you take it to one of the 2,000 drop off locations or mail it directly to Samaritan’s Purse. The boxes then go to one of the six major collection centers, located in: Charlotte, Boone, NC, Minneapolis, Orange County, CA, Atlanta, or Denver. They are inspected and sent to other countries, where they are distributed to needy children whose lives are forever changed because of your generosity.

How You Can Help:
1 â€" Make your own shoebox gifts for needy children â€" As a family or as an individual, fill up a couple of shoeboxes for a special child. You can wrap the box (wrap the lid separately), then fill it with toys, candy, books, school supplies, and hygiene items (toothbrush, soap, or combs) that will bring a smile to the face of the child. Drop a check on top of the toys for $7 for shipping and handling and then put a rubber band around each end of the box. Take your box to a drop off center or mail it to Samaritan’s Purse. The national collection week is November 13th-20th. The website also has drop off locations so you can find the nearest one to you.

2 â€" Organize a church-wide involvement at your church â€" You can head up a shoebox drive at your church. Samaritan’s Purse has the information on its’ website for you to get one started at your church. Set an overall goal for the church and have the members donate items to fill the boxes. At our church, our youth group had an Operation Christmas Child box wrapping party where we decorated the fellowship hall with Christmas decorations. The students loved it and wrapped and filled over sixty boxes on a Saturday night in October. The website will give you ideas and resources to get it started at your church as a mission project that you can participate in every year.

3 â€" Volunteer at a drop off location or at a collection center â€" You and your family or your church group can volunteer your time to help at the drop off location nearest you or if you live in one of the collection center areas, you can sign up to help out there. With so much participation in this ministry, volunteers are always needed and nothing can be more rewarding than knowing that you are helping someone out. Information for volunteering and a sign up form is located on the website.

4 â€" Make a donation to Operation Christmas Child â€" With the rising cost of shipping items to other countries, donations are always a great way to help out. You can mail your donation to Samaritan’s Purse if you would like to help out with the shipping of the boxes to the children overseas.

5 â€" Prayer â€" This is one that everyone should do. Even if you have made your own boxes, organized the church involvement, volunteered, and made a donation, or even if you can’t do any of those, we can all pray for the boxes and those distributing and receiving the boxes. Prayer is such a powerful tool that we often do not think of until it is a last resort. Begin praying now that God will bless this ministry, those who are volunteering or donating items, and especially, those who will be receiving the items.

This has become one of the most meaningful Christmas traditions for many people who have gotten involved. This year, let the spirit of Christmas start early in your heart and take part in a ministry that is touching lives all over the world.

*My girlfriend, Crystal, and I would like to challenge anyone who reads this article to put together five boxes for needy children. We have put together our five boxes and donated them and would like for others to do the same. If you would, please comment below when you have finished your boxes.

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