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Sunday, July 12, 2009

Way to Give: School Supplies & Operation Christmas Child

There it is again.... The C word.... Christmas.

It's coming sooner than we realize, and with it comes the Operation Christmas Child project sponsored by Samaritan's Purse. If you're not familiar with this group, they take shoeboxes full off goodies to needy kids around the world. You can learn more about it HERE. These kids need everything from soap to toys to pencils.

Did you know that many of the kids served by this organization can't attend school if they don't have a pencil? And some of them don't attend because pencils are too expensive!! Well, pencils are on sale at Staples right now for $.01 per 8-pack. That's a lot of pencils for a kid who needs them in order to attend school.


Even if you don't have school-age children, can I challenge you to snag some of these great school supply deals, use them in shoeboxes this Christmas, and give needy children a helping hand? If you're a bargain shopper and you start now, you can probably fill a couple of shoeboxes for next-to-nothing by the time the collection deadline rolls around. Collection time is usually some time in the middle of November, so there's plenty of time. But now is the time to start, and school supplies are a great starting point.


If you've considered doing shoeboxes in the past but not planned ahead enough to get them filled, I'm here to remind you to start now. I'll try to remind you as the weeks go by and I see other deals that make great shoebox fillers. If we all fill even one shoebox, that's a lot of love headed out to some kids who need it!

6 comments:

Melissa Salmon said...

Thanks for alerting us to this organization. My daughter is only 8 months old but I still can't manage to pass up any good deals when I see them. I will pass these school supplies on to those who could really use it. Have you participated with this organization before?

thanks,
Melissa

Jennifer said...

Melissa, I have done shoeboxes before. Last year we did 6 of them using mostly what I'd gotten free or almost-free at CVS. My mom bought a few things to go in them too, and we packed them together. My daughter enjoyed counting out the different things into the boxes. (She was 3 then.) We had an opportunity to talk about people who don't have as much as we do. This is an extremely reputable organization, so don't hestitate to get involved with them. Our church does a shoebox drive every year, and some of the girls at our church have actually worked directly with the organization. So I have full confidence in them. Thanks for asking though. I'm sure that others had the exact same question. :) I'll keep you posted and reminded more about them as the weeks go by.

Melissa Salmon said...

great, I'm looking forward to participating. thanks!

Kathy Schriefer said...

thanks so much, Jennifer, for getting the word out about Operation Christmas Child. I had the chance to go to the Dominican Republic last February to help distribute shoe box gifts with OCC. I saw firsthand what a blessing these simple gift boxes are to children, families, and whole communities. Please, please, please keep participating.

Jennifer said...

Kathy, what a great way to participate! Wow! I can't imagine the joy on the kids' faces when their shoeboxes arrive, especially if they had received one the previous year. I've seen video footage, but in real-life would be so fun!!

Kristy said...

What a great thing to do. I love the idea of brightening a child's day. :) Not sure if you know of this deal yet or not but you can get a cute free box of 12 pencils from Coach stores, visit my blog post to learn more:

http://tomorrowsplight.blogspot.com/2009/07/free.html

Thanks! :)