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World's Largest Christmas Project
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Did you know that Operation
Christmas Child, the shoebox
ministry founded by
Samaritan’s Purse, is the
world's
largest Christmas project? Here
are
some amazing facts about
Operation Christmas Child.
• This year, Operation
Christmas
Child will hand-deliver some 8
million
shoe box gifts to hurting kids
worldwide.
•Lined up end-to-end, the 69
million
shoe boxes collected since 1993
would stretch from Honolulu to
Hong
Kong!
• If all 69 million children
who have
received shoe boxes since 1993
stood
hand-in-hand, they would form a
line
stretching 47,725 miles-enough to
reach around the world more than
one
and a half times.
• Operation Christmas Child has
generated
more than 3,267 miles of
smiles since 1993-enough smiles
to
reach from Anchorage to Orlando.
• Operation Christmas Child
uses
whatever means necessary-truck,
boat,
plane, helicopter, donkey, dog
sled,
even camel-to bring shoe boxes to
children in more than 100
countries.
• Operation Christmas Child
uses
tracking technology that allows
donors to "follow your
box" to the
destination country where it will
be
hand-delivered to a child in
need.
• U.S. Presidents Ronald
Reagan,
George Bush, Bill Clinton and
George
W. Bush have all packed Operation
Christmas Child shoe box gifts
for
children in need.
• To wrap each of the 8 million
shoe
boxes packed this year would
require
an estimated 470,588 rolls of
wrapping
paper.
• There are more than half a
million
Operation Christmas Child
volunteers
worldwide.
If you’d like to participate in
Operation Christmas Child, here
are the five easy steps.
1. FIND A SHOE BOX
Use an empty shoe box (standard
size, please) or a small plastic
container.
You can wrap the box (lid
separately), but wrapping is not
required. Most importantly, pray
for the child who will receive
your
gift.
2. BOY OR GIRL?
Determine whether your gift will
be for a boy or a girl, and the
child’s age category: 2-4, 5-9,
or
10-14. Print out the appropriate
boy/girl label by downloading
from the website at
www.samaritanspurse.
org. Mark the correct age
category on the label, and tape
the
label to the top of your box.
3. FILL WITH GIFTS
Fill the box with a variety of
gifts
that will bring delight to a
child.
Use the gift ideas provided
below.
4. INCLUDE YOUR
DONATION
Please donate $7 or more for each
shoe box you prepare to help
cover
shipping and other project costs.
You can give online by using our
EZGIVE option, or you can write a
check to Samaritan’s Purse
(note
"OCC" on memo line) and
place it
in an envelope on top of the gift
items inside your box. If you or
your family are preparing more
than one shoe box, please make
one combined donation.
5. DROP OFF
Place a rubber band around each
closed shoe box and drop off at
the
Collection Center nearest you
(Byron United Methodist Church
in Byron or Cross Point Baptist
Church in Perry) during our
collection
week November 16 - 23.
For more information, visit
www.samaritanspurse.org.
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