US Kids Help Send Christmas to 8 Million Kids Worldwide

By Family Editor

Published: November 27, 2009

BOONE, N.C. /Christian News/ — Today communities across the United States are a picture of compassion in action — as families are working hard to collect millions of gift-filled shoe boxes. Their efforts are part of Operation Christmas Child, a kids-helping-kids project that uses these simple gifts to let hurting children know that they are loved and not forgotten.

Operation Christmas Child, a project of international Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse, headed by Franklin Graham, is the world’s largest Christmas project. Kids, families, schools, churches and community groups participate by filling shoe boxes with school supplies, toys, necessity items, candy and a letter of encouragement. The shoe boxes are then hand-delivered to hurting children around the world using whatever means necessary-sea containers, trucks, trains, airplanes, helicopters, boats, camels, even dog sleds.

“In a lot of other countries the kids have almost nothing of their own. So even simple things like stickers or colored pens or a ball are really special. They will remember that shoe box gift forever. I know I’ll never forget mine,” said Huda El-betjali, who received an Operation Christmas Child shoe box gift as a 9-year-old living in Jordan. Now a student at Cal State San Bernardino, Huda has begun packing shoe box gifts for other kids in need.

In 1993, Samaritan’s Purse kicked-off Operation Christmas Child in the United States with just 28,000 shoe box gifts. Since then, the project has collected more than 69 million shoe box gifts and hand-delivered them to needy children in more than 130 countries.

Operation Christmas Child is underway right now, and volunteers hope to collect 8 million shoe box gifts for children suffering from poverty, war, disease, famine and natural disaster.

Tagged with: Christianity, Operation Christmas Child, Samaritan's Purse