The Operation Christmas Child (OCC) Item of the Month for September is games! What a fun item and travel games fit the bill perfectly! Their compact size ensures room for other items in the shoebox, many of them necessities. A mini Etch-A-Sketch or simple pegboard game would also be wonderful. Besides size, please also keep relevance in mind. Operation Shoebox kids probably don’t have access to American television, social media, and video games, so they probably won’t recognize our popular trademarked characters. A child receives a shoebox only once in their ENITRE life – let’s make these boxes great!
Smart shoppers know that September is a great month to find the very last of the school supplies, flip flops, and summer clothes on deep clearance and we’d like to remind everyone that we’re thrilled to collect all items year-round. There are a wide variety of sale items appropriate for Operation Christmas Child (OCC) shoeboxes:
- T-shirts – Shirts without writing, are best. English is not the primary language in many of the OCC countries and kids may not even understand what is written on their shirts. There’s also a culture gap.
- Shorts, especially those with elastic waistbands so they last and fit longer.
- Skirts, especially with elastic waistbands
- Hats
- Flip Flops/Shoes – These are especially important because shoes help kids who have to walk long distances to get to school or to get water from a well.
- Socks – These are key…it gets cold at night even though the days are hot.
- Rulers
- Pencils
- Crayola Crayons (24 count or smaller). Crayola crayons won’t melt when shipped overseas to warmer climates…other brands will.
- Colored Pencils
- Notebooks that will fit in a shoebox
Of course, WOW items, like a soccer ball with an air pump, are always needed.
Simply drop off your donations in the bin just outside of Fellowship Hall by the children’s ministries bulletin board. If you have any questions, please contact Trephina Bedell, tbedell@ilcp.org or 847-359-1549. More on information Operation Christmas Child can be found at Immanuelpalatine.org/operation-christmas-child.
Did you know that we’re collecting for Operation Christmas Child (OCC) 2017 Shoeboxes year-round?
We’re doing this to get ready for a great packing party this November. Working year round gives us extra time to carefully choose special items for the shoebox. These shoeboxes really matter. An OCC shoebox might be the only gift a child ever receives.