Operation Christmas Child delivers hope one box at a time

The recent 10th annual Operation Christmas Child Celebration Dinner in Walnut Creek was so big it took not one but two dinners to accommodate all those who appreciate the act of creating shoeboxes filled with gifts that are sent globally to children in poor countries.

The dinners featured keynote speaker Mariya Tatarin, who received her first shoebox as a youngster in Ukraine years ago, and she talked about the impact it made in her life.

But more importantly, it helped create excitement about the upcoming OCC giving season, one created by the international organization Samaritan’s Purse.

Marilyn Schrock, member of the OCC Ohio East community relations team, said these types of gatherings to promote Operation Christmas Child remain a valued part of promoting the undertaking and giving people a better sense of what OCC does in providing both gifts and faith-based material to children around the world.

“Basically, I and many others go around our area to functions like Girl Scouts, churches and other organizations interested in learning more and help them better understand how they can help,” Schrock said.

Schrock said those visits and the celebration dinner help generate interest and excitement about the operation and create a sense of unity and joy surrounding giving to children who probably wouldn’t ever receive anything for Christmas.

She said anyone wishing to get involved can visit the Operation Christmas Child website that connects people to the Ohio East team, the overriding theme of OCC, its history and even allows people to build their own OCC gift boxes item by item online.

“Every shoebox is a unique opportunity to reach a child,” Schrock said. “Whether people build one shoebox, 10, 50 or more, each one is special, and it might be the one gift that each child has been praying for.”

She shared one story of a small boy in a cold European nation who was attending school without a coat because his family couldn’t afford one. While nobody knows exactly where each box will be shipped to and what child’s hands and heart it will eventually find, the belief of all who give to Operation Christmas Child is God will find a way to provide for each child’s need.

In this case, that boy sat and stared at his box, almost afraid to open it. Finally, a volunteer lovingly approached him and helped him open the box. Inside was a brand-new leather jacket just his size.

These types of stories and countless more resound through Samaritan’s Purse’s effort to share the love of Jesus with children around the world.

“People may ask how these types of stories continually happen, but it is all in God’s hands, and we as people who share compassion put together these boxes in faith, knowing God will see to it that they find the right child,” Schrock said. “We are simply tools doing God’s work.”

She said OCC also is a wonderful way to introduce young children to the joy of giving to others. By including the children in the gift box making process, it gives them a sense of ownership and instills in them the desire to serve and give to others.

They are encouraged to send photos and letters inside each box. Oftentimes that creates a connection, and many letters are even responded to by the child receiving the gift.

Schrock said taking children shopping for items to fill a box or boxes and creating a celebratory party of building each box adds to the excitement, whether it is at home with the family or in groups.

“Often kids will pick out the toys they’d like to receive, and it makes for a perfect gift to add to a box,” Schrock said.

Last year more than 44,000 gift boxes were sent out of the five-county Ohio East branch including the counties of Tuscarawas, Carroll, Coshocton, Holmes and Harrison.

To learn more, visit www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/.