Two beautiful children receive their shoebox gifts.
Image by kind permission of Samaritan’s Purse.
Years ago, I read in an English magazine about a project to send shoeboxes filled with Christmas gifts to children in wartorn eastern Europe. I thought it was a wonderful idea and wished I could take part, but I could find nothing like it in Australia.
Just by chance today I came across the Operation Christmas Child appeal run by the Samaritan’s Purse organisation. And it’s shoeboxes! I can’t wait to get started covering shoeboxes with colourful paper, stuffing them with gifts and sending them on their way to a child somewhere.
I have the brochure which details what you need to put in – and most importantly, what you need to leave out. The shoeboxes are marked Girl or Boy in three age groups, so that is six I am planning to make for starters. There is a donation of $8 AUD minimum to help speed each shoebox on its way but that’s a small price to pay to bring joy to a child. I’ll be blogging each shoebox as I complete it.
You can print out Girl and Boy shoebox labels from the website and there’s a map to show your nearest drop off point in Australia. It’s a marvellous project and I hope lots of people get involved.
Sally said
What a great idea! McKenna and I put together some bags for soldiers last year and had a blast. Maybe we’ll do some shoeboxes for children this year.
Tabitha said
What an excellent idea…must see if there is something local here we can do similar to this…thank you …