65,000 OCC Shoe Box Gifts to China for Earthquake Victims
Operation Christmas Child is a year-round effort to take shoe box gifts and the message of the gospel to 8 million children all around the world. On April 27, 2009, 65,000 of the shoe boxes you gave were loaded on a Boeing 747 cargo plane in Charlotte, North Carolina, traveling to China for children whose lives were devastated by last year’s earthquake. Franklin Graham, President and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse, was in China on May 12th, 2008, and felt the quake. Samaritan’s Purse immediately responded with disaster relief to the Sichuan Province of Central China sending water filtration systems, medical supplies, hygiene kits, and blankets. The continued relief effort has led to this exciting delivery of shoe boxes to the children of this region.
It was amazing to see crate after crate of shoe boxes loaded into the plane and everyone waving and cheering as the Operation Christmas Child staff members climbed in the plane for take off. Check out the video interviews with Franklin Graham and others to hear their passion for the ministry. If you would like to get involved in OCC, plan a shoe box packing party, get your church involved, lead up the shoe box collection on your college campus, pack a shoe box, and pray! Use the comments to tell us about your personal involvement with the OCC ministry.
There have been 9 replies so far
Thanks for posting this Jenny! Thanks to Threads for all your support and encouragement. And a big THANKS to all Threads followers, groups, churches, families, and individuals who packed shoe box gifts.
You are not just filling up boxes, but creating Gospel opportunties! Get involved again this year, or for the first time: www.samaritanspurse.org. Shoe box collection week is November 16-23 this year. It’s not to early to get started!
1 | shannon
Thursday, April 30, 2009, at 11:10am
what an amazing opportunity to hear about how God- over time is and has prepared the way for opening doors in China. I think one of the things I love most about this ministry is that the faithfullness to answer immediate needs of eathquake victims through blankets and food has now opened the door for gift filled shoeboxes to go in the name of Christ. Praying for the journey of these boxes and excited to hear more!
2 | Allison Mobley
Thursday, April 30, 2009, at 11:31am
Bill Klear! Just “do it!” I love it! ~Karen
3 | KLB
Thursday, April 30, 2009, at 12:23pm
A friend put me in touch with this website and told me of the great news about OCC going into China. I, now, sit here with tears in my eyes over the goodness of God. I work in my church every year with the shoebox ministry and I am so very excited! This year will be no exception when I encourage everyone to do as much as they are able to reach people for HIM!
FANTASTIC!
4 | Peggy Patrick
Thursday, April 30, 2009, at 2:02pm
Woo-hoo!! What a privilege to get to be there to see those shoeboxes off on their way and to pray over them. It’s such an easy thing to pack a shoebox, but man, does it pack a huge punch! May these children in China know God’s love for them!
5 | April
Thursday, April 30, 2009, at 5:14pm
Shannon from OCC sent me pictures of a little boy in China receiving and opening his shoe box! So precious! I love actually seeing the faces of the children.
6 | Jenny Williams
Tuesday, May 5, 2009, at 9:19am
I got involved in Operation Christmas Child as a teenager in high school and have been involved ever since. For the last two or three years I have included personal notes wih a return address in my boxes. A little more than a month ago I recieved a letter from a 9 year old boy living in South Africa. He had recieved one of my boxes.He said that he had never recieved a gift like that before. He is part of a large family but the only one in his family to recieve a box because he is the only one going to school but he enjoyed sharing the box with his family. Since recieving the box he has become involved. I am looking foward to keeping in touch with him and filling many more boxes.
7 | Ashley Humphries
Monday, May 11, 2009, at 11:13am
Glad you found the Threads website! I was blessed to go on a distribution trip with Operation Christmas Child to the Dominican Republic. I blogged throughout the week, you can find the posts archived in February. Have a great weekend!
8 | Jenny Williams
Friday, May 15, 2009, at 7:50am
I have never heard about Operation Christmas Child in Russia. I think that an idea is quite interesting and many Russian will be happy to be involved in this movement.
9 | Andrew
Thursday, May 28, 2009, at 7:38am
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