What does a small church, shoeboxes, and Christmas have in common? Those who have heard of Operation Christmas Child (OCC) will know!
OCC was started eleven years ago by Franklin Graham with shoebox gifts for children in Bosnia. Now the gifts bring joy and hope to many impoverished children around the world.
In the fall of 1997, Esther Jones, a member of the Buchanan (Michigan) Seventh-day Adventist Church, presented the OCC ministry idea to church members through an introductory video. She invited members to become a part of this special Christmas gift giving—a fun project to minister to children around the world with just a simple shoebox. She explained how children in countries of the world who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine are in great need to learn about Jesus. By filling a shoebox with little gifts and personal items, members could show these children the love of Jesus through their kindness. She encouraged all who could to fill one shoebox with school supplies, personal items, toys, stuffed animals, Bibles, Sabbath school papers, candy, etc.—things that would bring a smile to the faces of these children who have been through so much in their young lives.
Esther was hoping to amass 40 shoebox gifts to take to an Indianapolis collection center. A few days later she asked Ed Jackson, another member of the church and an executive for Wal-Mart, if he could provide the church with some empty shoeboxes for the project. He said he’d see what he could do, and borrowing the video he shared the idea with his associates at several Wal-Mart stores. "Within a week, word had spread about the project and we soon outgrew the hauling capacity of my minivan with over 500 shoeboxes," explained Esther. "That’s when our friends at Wal-Mart again stepped in and provided transportation of the boxes to Indianapolis." For three years Wal-Mart provided transportation, until the 3,000-box goal was passed and the Niles (Michigan) Seventh-day Adventist School became a regional collection center.
Esther's children attended the Niles Adventist School. The school had the space and a staff willing to share that space for service, so it soon became a shoebox collection site for a territory with a 50 to 70-mile radius each November. Over 35,000 shoebox gifts have been received at the school in the past seven years and over 10,000 more were expected during the collection held November 15–22, 2004. Students and staff participate by making shoebox gifts, and, along with volunteers, pack the shoeboxes into cartons, and load the cartons into the two-plus Roadway semi-trailers now provided each year by Samaritan’s Purse (the organization that operates OCC).
Many children who receive these gifts have never heard of Jesus before. OCC encourages contributors to include Bibles and other Christian materials in their shoebox gifts. As the gifts are handed out to the children, each is given a little book telling the story of Jesus in their own language. Because their life span is cut short with AIDS, war, or poverty, these children don’t have much time to learn what the love of Jesus is all about. Local ministers and missionaries provide follow-up Bible lessons to these children and their families to help them learn more.
One boy from Zambia started jumping up and down and clapping his hands when he received a Bible in his shoebox gift. He had been praying to Jesus for a Bible, and Jesus answered his prayers! Another little boy, at a different delivery site, came up to the group unpacking cartons of shoebox gifts and said, "I hope you have a box there for me with shoes in it—I've been praying for shoes." Upon opening his box, he found exactly what he had been praying for, a pair of shoes—and they were his size! In another place, a little girl was earnestly praying for a whole Bible because all she had was a tattered part of the New Testament. She was so excited to find a whole Bible in her box that she didn't even look at the toys. She just kept showing everyone her whole Bible. Just recently in Beslan, Russia, terrorists seized a school and massacred more than 300 children and adults. Only a few months prior to this, OCC had distributed shoebox gifts at this school. It is believed that many of these children accepted Christ—children were seen praying together prior to the massacre. How urgent it is to share the gospel, and what a powerful message a shoebox can send.
Gifts are not only exciting to the children who receive them, but those who send them get a blessing, too. Ladies in a St. Joseph (Michigan) church knitted mittens to put in each of their shoebox gifts. Later, they received a picture of the children in a Russian orphanage, all wearing a pair of the mittens sent by these ladies.
In 2003, OCC collected over 6.6 million shoebox gifts worldwide and distributed them to children in some 95 countries. This year, their goal is to collect seven million shoebox gifts.
Every age can become involved in bringing the true meaning of Christmas—Jesus Christ, God’s greatest gift—to these hurting children. "For people who are suffering, Christmas can be a wonderful reminder that God has not forsaken them. Wherever our gifts go, we can be sure that they will bring smiles to children and glory to God," remarked Esther. Please pray that the gifts of love will touch the hearts of the children who receive them and their families. Just imagine the stories we will hear in Heaven from these shoebox gifts!
Judi Doty, Lake Union Herald back pages editor, with Esther Jones, Operation Christmas Child Regional Collection Site volunteer coordinator
