Operation Christmas Child collection site opens, Nov. 17-24
Owasso’s Rejoice Christian Schools and Rejoice Church are preparing for this year’s Operation Christmas Child project. RCS and the church’s North Campus, located at 13413 E. 106th St. N., is a local collection site for Operation Christmas Child.
Operation Christmas Child is the world’s largest Christmas project of its kind. For the project, area residents fill shoe boxes with gifts, such as toys, school supplies and hygiene items, for needy overseas children. This year-round project of international Christian relief and evangelism organization Samaritan’s Purse, headed by Franklin Graham, is ramping up for National Collection Week, which is from Nov. 17-24.
Anyone can drop off a packed shoe box at the Owasso-area collection site from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 17, through Friday, Nov. 21. On Saturday, Nov. 22, Operation Christmas Child boxes may be dropped off at the collection site from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. On Sunday, Nov. 23, boxes may be dropped off at the same location from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. or 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. On Monday, Nov. 24, the collection site is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Then, using whatever means necessary — trucks, trains, boats, bikes and even elephants — the shoe box gifts will be hand-delivered to hurting children in 100 countries around the world.
Through the power of a simple gift and the message of hope through Jesus Christ, children learn they are loved and not forgotten. For many children, the shoe box gift will be the first gift they have ever received.
Operation Christmas Child uses tracking technology to allow participants to “follow” their box to the destination country where it will be given to a child in need. To register shoe box gifts and find out the destination country, use the “Follow Your Box” donation form found at www.samaritanspurse.org/occ. Additional local collection sites can be found using the online Zip Code locator at www.samaritanspurse.org.
For more information on how to participate with Operation Christmas Child, call the project’s Owasso area volunteers Arilla Karlak and Judy Horst at (918) 272-7235 or visit www.samaritanspurse.org/occ. National Collection Week for gift-filled shoe boxes is from Nov. 17-24; however, shoe box gifts are collected all year at the Samaritan’s Purse headquarters in Boone, N.C.
