It's amazing what a simple gift-filled shoebox can do for a child in need. It can put a smile on a face. It can make a child feel loved. It can even bring lasting joy into difficult circumstances.
Here are just a few shoebox stories to show just what can happen when shoeboxes packed with love are sent to a child in need...
OCC Students Receive Diana Award
UK
Charlotte Hancock, Olivia Hudson and Beth Brown were presented with a prestigious Diana Award on 15th December at the Post 16 Celebration of Achievement evening held at Tuxford Academy in Newark.
Meg's Shoebox Mission
Belarus
DURING the week, Meg Stevens is office manager at a flooring contractors. But each year, she doubles as a charity organiser when she encourages all the staff to collect shoeboxes. This year she was able to go on a distribution trip to Belarus.
Kara's Big Smile
Belarus
Kara was stood off to the side as we began giving out the boxes.I asked one of the translators to find out her age but before the translator could answer she told me herself in English that she was 10 and smiled a big smile at me.
A Mother's Love
Belarus
Standing by her son's bedside in a side room all alone was Anya who travels 50km to the hospital each day to be with her 9 year old son Sergei who is suffering from Cerebral Palsy.
Ana's Special Day
Belarus
Ana has cerebral palsy but the first thing I noticed about her was her smile - so full of life as she clutched the shoebox full of gifts she had just received. Not only was this a special Christmas gift for her but was timed perfectly for her 7th birthday the next day.
Home Full of Love
Belarus
Climbing the stairs to the little flat we were visiting seemed to take forever. The stairwell was dark, dingy and depressing. But walking through the door of the flat we met a huge contrast.
Damira's Desertion
Montenegro
Desertion and illness have ruined Damira’s childhood. Her father deserted the family years ago; his daughter has no idea how to contact him. Then, only three months ago, her mother fell desperately ill, and so the only solution was for the orphanage to give Damira a home.
Father Shot by his Own Hand
Montenegro
We gave shoeboxes out at the Konik 2 Refugee Camp which is beside the municipal rubbish dump of Podgorica. Most of the 300 or so inhabitants of the refugee camp Konik 2 do not see themselves as others see them: they lived in Kosovo until the war, when their homes were attacked and burned to the ground, and they were fortunate to escape with their lives.
The Car That Spoke to Me
Montenegro
Twenty years on from when OCC began in 1990 we often meet young people who remember receiving shoeboxes as children. It is wonderful to hear how they cherish their memories of that little box years later. One of our translators for a recent trip to in northern Serbia told us how he still remembers the shoebox he received when he was a child.
Bane's Story
Swaziland
With a population of about 1.1 million, the small nation of Swaziland in southern Africa has the highest prevalence of HIV than any other country in the world with 26% of the adult population HIV positive.
Eleven year old Bane couldn’t come to the shoebox distribution taking place in the nearby school as she is crippled and lives too far away.
Pavel Get his Shoebox
Belarus
Helen Lisney from Liverpool went on a shoebox distribution trip to Belarus before Christmas. As she is a teacher, her class of children had put together a shoebox for her to take with her. She had a strong sense that the child that received that box would choose her - not the other way around, so she put the shoebox in her rucksack each day and waited for that child...
Jamil and his gloves
Kenya
Jamil is 6 years old and lives in the Ark children’s home as he is an orphan. Although he is well cared for and is basically healthy he does not get many presents or things which he can keep for himself.
Sebastijan
Montenegro
Montenegro is a small Eastern European country with a population of just 685,000. The nation was created in 2006 following a vote by the population to separate from Serbia. There is 15% rate of unemployment and an estimated 12% of the population lives below the poverty line. Sebastijan shares one room with seven other children and two women.
Ellina's Delight
Belarus
At a distribution in Belarus Ian Taylor spotted a little girl, "Sitting at the front in her fairy outfit was Ellina, complete with wand in hand, little did I know that she and two other young girls would sing for us. "
Esma & Resye's story
Kosova
Living in an abandoned railway container in Pristina (Kosova), Esma and Resye were wide eyed as the shoeboxes were brought into their home...
Generosity of UK Children
UK
It is not unusual for us to hear about school children donating one or two shoeboxes to Operation Christmas Child or about them putting their favourite toys inside a shoebox, but this year we have been touched by children who have gone one better. In these days when people are quick to judge a generation who sometimes appear only think about themselves, it is wonderful to read about children who don't want gifts for themselves, but want others to receive them instead.
Church Supporters
UK & Ireland
Hundreds of churches across the UK and Ireland have lent their support to Operation Christmas Child, holding special services and even becoming processing centres to send the boxes on their way.
Thank You from Belarus
Belarus
For the past 18 years Operation Christmas Child has been sending shoeboxes to Belarus. This year we sent 33 loads of shoeboxes to the country for distributing to orphanages, hospitals and poor homes. Here is a letter from the Baptist church in Tekhteen, Mogilev region, Belarus who helped distribute the shoeboxes.
Houses and Gifts
Haiti
"On Jan 12, 2010, I didn't have any hope for the future," Beatrice Roland, 32, said. "I didn't have anything. But these boxes have given us hope again."
Sekou's Story
Liberia
Nine year old Sekou lives with his family in a Muslim suburb of Monrovia, Liberia's capital city. Their little home is near a church where the local OCC leader runs a thriving children's ministry...
Lisa's Story
Ukraine
Lisa is eight years old and lives in a small village in the north of Crimea, an autonomous region of the Ukraine...
Vanya's Story
Belarus
Little Vanya is just four years old. Sadly he has no mother or father. Home for Vanya is a tiny hospital ward deep in the chilly city of Mogilev in the country of Belarus...
Happy to Share
Belarus
Anna is eight years old and has two older brothers aged twelve and thirteen respectively. The family lives in a house in Dolgoe.
Dima's Story
Belarus
Dima is three years old and has a seven year old half-brother from his mother's first husband.
Vasyl gives a lesson
Ukraine
George Luke is a free lance writer who wrote a blog while he was on the Operation Christmas Child Discovery Team to Ukraine. "I made friends with 14-year-old Vasyl. He'd opened his shoebox and found a set of juggling balls inside - and, it turns out, was quite a skilled juggler! ‘
Where Santa cannot go...
Romania
Mihai Vincze told us about a distribution they made in a remote village called Ticu which they managed to get to despite bad roads and snowy conditions..
The school from a time gone by...
Montenegro
Our local partner Vladimir in Montenegro reflects on his recent visit to a small school with simple facilities, where shoeboxes brought a ray of light into children's lives...
From the Brownies to a girl in Belarus
Belarus
Jane Turner went on an Operation Christmas Child Discovery Team to Belarus in December. She recounts the experience of handing over a shoebox prepared by her Brownie group to a girl who'd just arrived at the Children's Hospital...
Nykyfor and Mykola's story
Crimea (Ukraine)
Nykyfor and Mykola have TB of the bone, leaving them unable to play outside with other children. But they had much to be excited about when gift-filled shoeboxes arrived at their children's centre in the Crimea region of the Ukraine...
A special thank you from Belarus
Minsk, Belarus
Soon shoeboxes from OCC warehouses will be reaching children all of the world. To wet your appetite, here is a thank you message from a girl who received a shoebox last Christmas...
Welsh Baccalaureate students clock up their hours!
Welsh Baccalaureate students at Castell Alun School in Hope, Flintshire and Yale College Wrexham have used Operation Christmas Child as a means to getting their required voluntary hours for the Community Participation section of the qualification.
A Special Teddy Bear
Motshane District, Swaziland
In October 2010 International Operation Christmas Child Co-ordinator Trevor Hammond visited a primary school in Motshane District, Swaziland...
Gina's simple dream comes true
Belarus
Gina is 12. Her father left when she was young and her stepfather has recently died from cancer. She and her mother, Natasha live in a tiny flat in Belarus. Working as a seamstress, Natasha constantly struggles to earn a living.
Touching Each Item
Mozambique
Faith Spinks tells us about a distribution in Mozambique - "As all the children were opening their boxes and excitedly showing each other their gifts I noticed a little boy struggling to get his box open. Before I could get there to help he managed to get the tape loose and open up the box. He lightly touched one item after another, picking some of them up a little bit, but removing nothing from the box ...
Use the form below to tell us your story, give us your thoughts, send us your pictures or videos. We'd love to hear from you...
Samaritan's Purse International is registered as a charity within England and Wales (1001349) and in Scotland (SC039251) and as an incorporated company registered by guarantee in England and Wales. Company Number 2462257.
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