Shoebox Donation Completed

Each year, as part of our charitable giving for the holidays, we fill a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child, a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse. To begin this task, we ask ourselves only three simple questions:

1) DO WE WANT TO DONATE A BOX TO A BOY OR A GIRL? Since we have a daughter and no sons, we always fill a box for a girl.

2) WHAT AGE GROUP DO WE WANT TO TARGET FOR OUR BOX? Our choices are ages 2-4, ages 5-9, and ages 10-14. As my daughter is sixteen years old, we usually select the oldest age category.

3) WHAT CLIMATE DO WE WANT TO TARGET FOR OUR BOX? Here we only have two choices: warm or cold. Since we currently live in Connecticut and grew up in Minnesota, we always opt for the “cold climate” box. It is just easier to select items for a familiar environment.

Once we set these parameters, our remaining jobs are twofold:

1) purchase the gifts to put in the shoebox

2) drop the shoebox at a nearby collection center anytime from November 13th-22nd, a deadline that is quickly approaching.

Since I generally like to be early rather than late (a habit I inherited from my beloved dad), I designated this Saturday (11/4/2006) as “Operation Christmas Child” shopping time. It took my daughter and me four trips to Wal-Mart and one visit to Target to collect all we needed, but we finished the job. Why so many trips you ask? Well, mostly because the box refused to be filled. Strange, I know. We purchased several rather bulky items, like gloves, a scarf, a winter headband, a coin purse, and a small notebook, thinking that would take up most of the space. Nope. We returned with pencils, erasers, a ruler, several dental care items, a comb, two pairs of socks, some playing cards, a yo-yo and a flashlight with batteries. Surely that would do the trick. Far from it. We still managed to squeeze in another pair of gloves, earmuffs, and two bars of soap. Finally, this afternoon, the box was packed. I paid the donation for shipping online and attached the appropriate “girl” label to the lid. The 2006 Operation Christmas Child shoebox is now secured with two sturdy rubber bands and staged by my back door, waiting for a long journey that will take it to some far corner of the world that my family and I have never seen, where it will be given to a child who, I hope, will beam with delight when she opens what could be her only Christmas gift this year.

Since my church doesn’t participate in the shoebox drive, tomorrow I will give our donation to the pastor’s wife at Montville Union Baptist Church who will add it to the other boxes collected by her congregation. It isn’t too late for your family to participate in this effort. For more information, visit Operation Christmas Child today.