Celebrating 895,000 shoebox gifts

18th January 2016

We are delighted to be able to share that your school contributed to us being able to send over 895,000 shoebox gifts from the UK in 2015. Globally, we delivered over 11.2 million shoeboxes, including many thousands that were delivered to children living in refugee camps.

Through our partnership with local churches overseas, each shoebox brings the opportunity to share God’s love with children around the world, as well as opening the door for them and their families to connect with the local community, finding help and support for the future.

The simple act of filling a shoebox not only affects the child receiving the gift, but also those packing it here in the UK. Many children learn that giving to others can be so rewarding – here is a story of one amazing young lady:

Thirteen year old Olivia is one of OCC’s fantastic young volunteers. Rachael, her mother, explained that Olivia first packed a shoebox with her family when she was just three years old and her interest continued to grow. “Every year she has started her 'collecting' earlier and the numbers have grown.

This year, Olivia has used not only Birthday and Christmas money to fund her boxes, but worked hard at extra jobs to earn more pennies; nothing has given her more pleasure than choosing items for other children to enjoy.”

During 2015, Olivia made an incredible 1100 bracelets and filled 25 boxes! When asked why she does OCC Olivia said "I just want to make lots of children happy and to have things they never get." Well done Olivia!

DOWNLOAD OLIVIA'S STORY HERE

As you share this story with your school we hope that this will encourage you as you think about the impact of Operation Christmas Child both at home and overseas. We are grateful to be able to partner with you and are here to support you in any way that we can.

If there is someone else who has taken over the role of OCC contact within your School, please do let us know and we will amend our records accordingly. Please send any updated contact details to connect@samaritans-purse.org.uk.

We look forward to keeping in touch with you and trust that your involvement with Operation Christmas Child will continue to be a blessing to you and your school in the coming year.

With appreciation,

Nick Cole, UK Director

Operation Christmas Child