Sideways News

Operation Christmas Child distributes gifts to children in over 100 countries

With all the frantic present-buying, cracker-pulling and decking the halls, it's sometimes easy to forget about those less fortunate during the festive season, but one scheme is doing something to ensure that everyone can help spread Christmas cheer.

Operation Christmas Child (OCC), run by the Christian charity Samaritan's Purse, is an annual global scheme which provides gifts to disadvantaged children in more than 100 countries. Since its inception, over 69 million shoeboxes brimming with small presents have been sent off to less fortunate children in Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

What you can do
A simple shoebox is all that's needed to get the festive ball rolling. From then on, you can choose whether to design your box for a boy or a girl, and select a particular age range, before filling the box with a range of fun and educational gifts, careful to follow a few simple rules.

Once created, the shoeboxes can then be dropped off at certain points, or arrangements can be made for them to be collected if there is a large number of boxes. After being vetted by an army of volunteers, the boxes then begin their journey around the globe. 

The story behind the boxes
The idea behind Operation Christmas Child was first conceived by Dave and Gill Cooke, a couple from Wrexham, North Wales, who (in 1990) decided to send gifts in response to the Romanian street-children crisis. In 1993, Samaritan's Purse adopted the scheme - sending 28,000 shoe boxes to children in war-torn Bosnia.

Since then, the project has gone from strength to strength and has grown to become the UK's largest children's Christmas appeal. With 19 years of gift-giving under its belt, the project has distributed presents to needy children in over 130 countries.

Last year, over 1.2 million shoeboxes were wrapped, packed and sent to children in disadvantaged situations by adults and children in the UK.

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