Every autumn our family packs shoe boxes with hygiene items, school supplies, and fun toys for kids around the world, and some of those kids have never received a gift before. It’s a wonderful project to be a part of, to spread Christmas cheer, and God’s love.
Our Bible study group used to do this together and each family would fill a certain number of boxes, pack them with goodies, and donate it to church to be delivered to Samaritan’s Purse, a nondenominational evangelical organization.
The process was easiest this year with kids being able to sort the goodies and fill the boxes themselves. When they were younger, Ellis would stack all the items, Elliot would fold the cardboard boxes given from church, and I’d sort them in. Now they can do it by themselves. The best part is going shopping together and putting them all into boxes. A few years ago we bought a bulk of small plush from Oriental Trading and had fun giving it to friends, neighbors, and putting them into boxes for the past three years. Next year we’ll need to replenish.
On the box, you can indicate if the gift is for a boy or a girl and select one of the age ranges, from 2-4, 5-9, and 10-14. You pay $10 for shipping, print out the gift recipient labels, and activate the QR code to follow the boxes to their final destination. An added bonus to this experience is driving to a participating church, drop it off, and feel happy that we can share God’s love with some children.
The church we went to today had boxes taped up with filled shoeboxes. The lady told me they had collected about 1000 from the community. Wow! That is so cool and inspiring. Ours is a small offering but I believe God can do mighty things with it. It’s a family tradition that I hope we’ll continue to do year after year.
You can learn more about it and the inspiring stories of people who donate thousands of boxes and the stories of people who received them and how they are doing it for others now.
Other years I didn’t take pictures since the whole project was a one-woman show. lol
Categories: church learning with kids Mom lIfe
singlikewildflowers
Welcome to my blog! My name is Esther and I'm so happy you are here. I'm an avid nature photographer and a daydreaming thinker. My posts revolve around photos of nature's beauty, homeschooling adventures with my 2 kids, sporadic reflections on my child's heart condition, Bible reading reflections, gardening feats, and other mish mash things. Hopefully you'll leave encouraged, pensive, or smiling at the simple things of life. Thank you for stopping by and hope you'll find some interesting posts to read!
sing like wildflowers 
I know some other people who participate in a program like this one: perhaps even this very one. For years, I helped with a similar project, putting together boxes for sailors from around the world at the port of Houston. Being on a ship far from home at Christmas can be hard, too, and our Seaman’s Center tried to make it a little easier.
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Being on a ship can be hard too! I can imagine what joy it brings for those sailors to receive a care package. Thanks for enlightening me about that…didn’t even cross my mind.
This Christmas program is pretty awesome to help children during Christmas. Toys for Tots is great too!
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This is a great thing to do. We used to do it at the last school I was at too.
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That’s great Norah! Kids have a lot of fun putting these boxes together. It’s a blessing for both the giver and the receiver. 🙂
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It sure is.
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I love that you guys do this too! I was just introduced to it this year at my church. 🥰
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Isn’t it an awesome program? I’m so glad you got introduced to it. It’s great when the whole church body gets together for something special like this. I bet Isaiah would have loads of fun going shopping and putting a care package together.
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We do these every year too! It’s one of our favorite holiday traditions.
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