As it is getting later in the year, it getting closer to Christmas, which also means that National Collection Week (November 13-20) for Operation Christmas Child (OCC) is approaching. If you are not aware of what Operation Christmas Child is, then let me outline it for you:
Operation Christmas Child is is an organization ran by The Samaritan's Purse to help give less fortunate children around the world a Christmas gift. OCC uses gift-filled shoe boxes to show and demonstrate the love of Christ by having millions of people donate shoe boxes each year. Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child, has collected and delivered more than 135 million gift-filled shoe boxes to children in more than 150 countries and territories. More than 500,000 volunteers worldwide, with more than 150,000 of those in the United States, are involved in collecting, shipping, and distributing shoe box gifts.
I first got involved in Operation Christmas Child when my neighbor introduced it to me and I packed my first shoe box to give to the organization. Once I had heard of this project I was immediately in love with it and decided that I wanted to be more involved within the coming years. The love from sending that first shoe box eventually led to sending over 200 boxes within three years with the help of my life long friend Katelyn Brown. Each year we set up a bake sale in my neighborhood for two days to raise funds to collect supplies. In 2016, our goal was to send at least 100 shoe boxes and we can successfully say with the help of many people, that we sent 146 shoe boxes to children in many different countries.
The images below our from last year's donations for Operation Christmas Child.
This project is truly one of the most humbling experiences that I have ever been involved with and I truly encourage everyone to look more into it.
"Go therefor and make disciples of all the nations." Matthew 28:18-20
With all of that being said, Katelyn and I have created a goal of sending over 200 full shoe boxes this year... and we are asking for your help! We will be having our annual bake sale to help raise the funds November 4th and 5th, but of course BEYOND is going to get involved! For the entire month of October and through November 5th, 25% of ALL sales on BEYOND will go directly towards reaching our goal of 200 shoe boxes. We initially decided on this goal after dropping off the shoe boxes pictured above and we have not forgotten about it. We have been collecting supplies all year and also planning out how to reach our goal. If you purchase from BEYOND, you will be kept informed on our progress and be mentioned on social media once collection week is over. We thank you in advance for all of your support and love and we hope to reach our goal this year.
For more information on Operation Christmas Child you can either visit this link >>> https://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/the-greatest-journey/ <<< or email BEYOND.
For information on how to donate supplies and/ or shoe boxes please contact BEYOND at mybeyondshop@gmail.com
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Email: mybeyondshop@gmail.com
XOXO,
Carley
