Operation Christmas Child Archives

Building A Box For Operation Christmas Child #OCCGiveBack

October 22, 2012 by Momstart

For the past three years we’ve been building boxes of Operation Christmas Child. Usually I do almost all of the filling myself as I always have so much left over from my blog. This year though, I really wanted to get the kids involved so I took Miles to Target to help me pick out some things, and then I let Zoe see what I got for the girl box and let her pack it. Then we shared a conversation on giving and how it would feel to not receive anything for Christmas.

A kids-helping-kids project of international Christian relief and evangelism organization Samaritan’s Purse, headed by Franklin Graham, Operation Christmas Child hand-delivers shoe boxes packed with school supplies, toys, necessity items and often a hand-written note of encouragement. I love getting my children involved in the charity projects that we do. They have learned at a very young age how we can help and love other by giving what God has blessed us with. We don’t keep very many of the review items that I receive through my blog and we participate in a toy drive every year. I gather a ton of toys for my Holiday Gift Guide, gently review it, place it back in the box and donate it. We love making a difference and the kids are building a foundation of generosity. Samaritan’s Purse uses tracking technology that allows donors to “follow your box” to the destination country where it will be hand-delivered to a child in need. To register shoe box gifts and find out their destination country, use the EZ Give donation form found at www.samaritanspurse.org. You can help by filling your own box OR help spread the word about this project by enlisting other families, churches, scout troops, community groups and businesses to take part in impacting a life. To volunteer or learn how to pack and send an Operation Christmas Child shoe box gift, call (800) 353-5949 or visit www.samaritanspurse.org.

This holiday season build a box with your family to teach kindness, compassion, and generosity.

Operation Christmas Child and influencer marketing platform BlogFrog have teamed up with 200 bloggers like me to spread the word about this great cause.

BlogFrog will match the first 200 boxes that are built. Pledge your commitment below to build a box today on Facebook or Twitter!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Operation Christmas Child. The opinions and text are all mine.

Season Of Giving Day 4 Fill A Box for Operation Christmas Child

November 4, 2011 by Momstart 7 Comments

It’s Day Four of our Season of Giving here at MomStart. I just realized that my family and I are doing something that I wanted to mention and it fits perfectly here in Summer’s monthly theme. So I gave Summer the day off. Here is My Day Four Season of Giving post:

Operation Christmas Child National Collection Week (Nov. 14 – 21) is almost here! But it’s not too late for your family to join the fun! There is still time to bring hope to suffering children overseas. Our family has a lot of fun putting together the boxes. We did this last year and we’re doing it again this year.

We’re lucky enough that our church provides everything we need to get started right down to the shoe box. We just fill the box with our own goodies and blessings. You and your family can pack a shoe box gift with school supplies, toys, necessity items, candy and a letter of encouragement. Step-by-step shoe box packing instructions are available at Samaritan’s Purse.

Pick Boy or girl, since I have one of each we picked one boy and one girl. The ages depended on what I had to put in the box. So I ended up with a Boy age 5-9 and a girl age 2-4. We filled them with arts and craft supplies, games, toys, candy and some toothpaste and toothbrushes.

Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has hand-delivered shoe box gifts to more than 77 million hurting children in more than 130 countries. Staff and volunteers use whatever means necessary ships, trucks, buses, trains, airplanes, boats, camels, even dog sleds to deliver the boxes.

Samaritan’s Purse uses tracking technology that allows donors to “follow your box” to the destination country where it will be hand-delivered to a child in need. To register shoe box gifts and find out their destination country, use the EZ Give donation form found at www.samaritanspurse.org.

You can help by filling your own box OR help spread the word about this project by enlisting other families, churches, scout troops, community groups and businesses to take part in impacting a life. To volunteer or learn how to pack and send an Operation Christmas Child shoe box gift, call (800) 353-5949 or visit www.samaritanspurse.org.

Zoe and Miles and Hasbro helped me with Toys For Tots

December 24, 2010 by Momstart 4 Comments

I always miss the deadline for donating toys for the Maltby Food Bank, and toys keep coming even when I do remember to make the deadline. So we had more toys I wanted to give away before Christmas. Some of the toys came from Hasbro and you can see a list and description of those toys listed below.

Other toys came from My Share the Joy Experience with Zoe.

And then of course I had some toys left over from BlogHer 2010. I was planning on giving them to Zoe and Miles but after all the presents from Grandma and Papa, and Grandma Mimi and Pawpaw, and from Gran, well the kids had more than enough presents under the tree so Andrew and I decided to even give some of the toys we purchased to charity along with what I received at Blogher 10.

I feel very blessed to have been chosen for so many different giving campaigns and was happy to work in others of my own choice. I worked the Seattle Tweet Drive, Random Acts of Zhu, Land’s End Share the Joy, Operation Christmas Child and gave to Toys for Tots, I’ll also be making a large donation to the Maltby Food Bank when they re-open in January (I messed up on that one, I never thought about the fact they would be closed over the Christmas Break…OOPS) !

Check out Miles and Zoe giving the toys to Charity!

We dropped off the toys at Toys R Us a drop off for Toys for Tots.

These are the toys that Hasbro sent us: They sent us the Play-Doh Mega Fun Factory (which was hard for me to give away), and Adventure Heroes Hero On The Go Playset, and an Explore ‘n Grow Musical Gear Center. Thank you Hasbro for helping us help others have a Merry Christmas.

PLAY-DOH MEGA FUN FACTORY

Fifty years after the launch of the original FUN FACTORY toy, the brand new MEGA FUN FACTORY set takes classic extruding play to a whole new level! A motorized conveyor belt provides nonstop action as kids crank out favorite toys and "treats" in this lively FUN FACTORY world. To start, children push down the purple handle to extrude the colored PLAY-DOH compound of their choice. As the conveyor belt moves the PLAY-DOH compound along, kids select and stamp out a “candy” or toy mold and then push down the "chopper" at the end of the belt to cut their creation loose. To complete the fantastical FUN FACTORY experience, kids can display and "sell" their creations on a colorful playmat featuring a toy shop theme on one side and a candy store theme on the other side. Set includes six 2-ounce cans of PLAY-DOH compound. Requires two "AA" batteries, not included. Available at most major toy retailers nationwide and on HasbroToyShop.com.

ADVENTURE HEROES HERO ON THE GO PLAYSETS

Grab your pack and let’s go! With the PLAYSKOOL Hero on the Go playsets little ones can play the adventure or become the hero with two ways to play. In role play mode, kids strap on the backpack complete with flashing lights and realistic sounds to become an exciting police officer or a brave fire fighter with a role play fire hose! With the simple press of a button, the pack opens to reveal a themed playset inside, complete with an action figure and vehicle ready for adventure. Choose between a fire or police HERO ON THE GO playset, each sold separately. Requires three "AA" batteries, included. Available at most major toy retailers nationwide and on HasbroToyShop.com.

EXPLORE ‘N GROW MUSICAL GEAR CENTER

Spinning colorful gears and merry music make the MUSICAL GEAR CENTER toy perfect for lively babies! Press the cheerful critter to start the action of the swirling gears, balls, and music! Drop the ball through the shoot for put ‘n take fun or spin the side gears to send the happy face turning round and round. As baby’s fine motor skills begin to develop, the MUSICAL GEAR CENTER toy offers exciting new ways to play – baby can now stack and reconfigure the interchangeable gears for even more silly, spinning fun. The MUSICAL GEAR CENTER toy includes five interchangeable gears and two EXPLORE ‘N GROW balls, compatible with most other gear and ball products in the line. Requires two "AA" batteries, not included. Available at most major toy retailers nationwide and on HasbroToyShop.com.

Wordless Wednesday–Donations and Hasbro Halloween Treats

October 26, 2010 by Momstart 25 Comments

Wordless Wednesdays are usually just wordless for me, but this week, I needed to share just a little bit about the products in the picture. At Costco, and I noticed they are on sale at Target this week too, you can purchase the Play-Doh Halloween Packs. I hate letting my kids have candy so getting an alternative to candy is great because then they can play with it and I’m not stressing over the candy. Anyways, the 20 count packages are on sale at Target this week for 4.99 and you can purchase two 20 count bags at Costco and I didn’t see what the price was.

This this is a picture of our box for Operation Christmas Child. We put the Mr. Potato Head Trick or Tator in amongst all of the other toys to fill up the box. We also put a few of the Play-Doh containers in the box to fill in the gaps. The rest we’ll be sharing with our friends for Halloween. Thank you Hasbro for these wonderful Halloween treasures.

You can find all of the Hasbro Seasonal Items at Hasbro.com

We received samples from Hasbro for this Happy Halloween Post!

Start Collection for Operation Christmas Child

September 30, 2009 by Momstart 4 Comments

The world’s largest Christmas Project, Operation Christmas Child, this year will bring together parents and children as they shop, decorate, and fill empty shoe boxes with goodies for 8 million struggling kids in more than 100 countries.

If you have not heard about this before you should take a look. Kids and families wrap and pack empty shoe boxes with simple items most people take for granted, including toys, school supplies, and toothbrushes. A lot of churches do this, that’s where my family first learned about this wonderful project. It’s so easy to do too. Operation Christmas Child collects the gift boxes and hand-delivers them to hurting children around the world using whatever means necessary—sea containers, trucks, trains, airplanes, helicopters, boats, camels, even dog sleds.

Anyone can participate in Operation Christmas Child right now. The project is a massive year-round effort, requiring months of organization and preparation.

Family Activity Ideas:

Go shopping together to pick out items for your shoe box gift. Check out money saving blogs for great deals to maximize your shoe box gift shopping budget.
Make home-made wrapping paper together and wrap the shoe box. Step-by-step packing instructions are available at www.samaritanspurse.org.
Write a note of encouragement to the child who will receive the shoe box gift. Consider including a photo and an address, inviting the shoe box recipient to write back.
Look at a map and guess which of the 100 receiving countries may be the shoe box’s final destination. Register the shoe box gift using the EZ Give donation form. Operation Christmas Child uses tracking technology that allows donors to “follow your box” to find out the destination country where it will be hand-delivered to a child in need. Later, leave a comment and let us know where your box is delivered.
Make a video about Operation Christmas Child and submit it on ShoeTube.

Since 1993, families have worked together to help Operation Christmas Child collect and deliver shoe box gifts to more than 68 million hurting children in some 130 countries. For many children, it is the first gift they have ever received.

Together we all make a difference in the lives of others. Even one person can make a difference and touch the lives of others.