Operation Christmas Child delivers great joy to millions of children around the world through shoeboxes lovingly and prayerfully packed with gifts that will bring delight to a child. Every gift-filled shoebox is a powerful tool for evangelism and discipleship—transforming the lives of children and their families around the world through the Good News of Jesus Christ! After receiving shoebox gifts, boys and girls are invited to enroll in The Greatest Journey, a 12-lesson discipleship program where children learn what it means to faithfully follow Christ and share their faith with others.
We love this ministry!
At Calvary, we look forward to participating in this ministry every year! In just the past six years, we have collected over 9,000 shoeboxes for OCC. We want to keep that momentum going and can’t wait to see how many boxes God provides through Calvary this year. Shoeboxes are available for pickup in the Welcome Center. Take a box home, fill it with items suggested by the Operation Christmas Child website, plus $10 for shipping, and bring it back by November 12th.
Not sure what to include? Samaritan’s Purse has created a fantastic gift guide to help you pick out items for both genders in all three age brackets. You can download that list here.
Want to know where your box ends up? You may go online to pay for your $10 shipping. You can use the label included with your shoebox, or you can get a label for your box with a bar code that will send you an email update on its destination. You’ll also get a donation receipt.
Besides filling boxes, you can also help by…
Donating Items
In addition to collecting boxes, we are collecting items to fill boxes at our Packing Party on November 4th. Please consider helping us with the collection efforts by bringing in school supplies, hygiene items (no toothpaste, candy or gum), and toys — both small toys and larger ones like stuffed animals, dolls, cars, soccer balls (with hand pumps), and more. Collection buckets are in the Welcome Center and Hightower Hall. You can also drop items off during the week in the Calvary Kids Office or the Church Office.
Shopping the Wishlist
We now have a wishlist on Amazon.com. This list is a great way to shop from home easily and have items sent straight to the church. Many items on the list have quantities because we’re hoping to collect a certain number of those items. Other items are hopeful suggestions we’d love to receive but have no particular number in mind. You can also use this list to help you with OCC ideas when you’re out shopping in a brick-and-mortar store. And, as a bonus, if you purchase on Amazon using AmazonSmile for Calvary, you’ll help us twice over!
Donate Money
You may also make a monetary donation to our OCC efforts by writing OCC on your check or giving envelope or by giving online and choosing “Operation Christmas Child” in the drop-down menu. Also crucial to this ministry is prayer. Please be in prayer now for the recipients of these boxes, the people packing the boxes, as well as the ones delivering the boxes. If you have any questions about Operation Christmas Child, you can visit the Samaritan’s Purse website or email Laura Atterbury.
Serve
There are lots of opportunities for you to serve as an OCC volunteer! From folding boxes to Packing Party prep and several things in between, you’re sure to find an area that fits your personality and schedule. Check out the OCC Volunteer page for more information.