Operation Christmas Child celebrates 20th anniversary by sending shoeboxes to Haiti
Over 15,000 children who were victims of the earthquake in Haiti will this Christmas receive gift-filled shoeboxes sent by children in the UK as part Operation Christmas Child.
“It’s our 20th year of sending shoeboxes to children in need overseas,” says Simon Barrington, Executive Director of Samaritan’s Purse, “and what better way to celebrate than to send gifts to children in Haiti at Christmas. These children need our prayers and they certainly deserve our generosity at this special time of year.”
Samaritan's Purse is calling on Christians in the UK to get behind the drive to provide a further 15,000 shoeboxes for children in Haiti, with High Street outlets Shoezone and The Entertainer also encouraging their customers to send shoeboxes to Haiti and other destinations. Last year, over 400,000 children and adults wrapped, packed and sent nearly 1.2 million shoeboxes to children in 13 different countries across Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
The shoeboxes will come off the back of a massive response by Samaritan’s Purse to the disaster in Haiti, which to date has seen the global relief and development charity provide over 10,000 temporary shelters for families in Port-au-Prince, treat over 10,300 patients at clinics in Cite Soleil, as well as feeding over 30,000 people each day.
“Haiti has been a big part of our response to Jesus’ call to feed the hungry and clothe the naked this year,” Simon explains. “Because of the generosity of so many churches and churchgoers here in the UK, we have been able to not just meet the immediate needs of Haitians, but also help them get back on their feet and look to a future filled with hope.”
The 20th anniversary year also sees Operation Christmas Child partner with the up-coming film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. This includes Narnia actress Georgie Henley, who plays Lucy in the film, encouraging fans to take part in the shoebox appeal as part of a special video clip, which you can view here.
Since 1990, when the project first started in Wrexham, North Wales and saw 3,000 boxes sent to children in Romania, Operation Christmas Child has grown to become the largest children’s Christmas appeal, with over 81 million shoeboxes handed out to children across the world.
Thousands of churches, schools, workplaces and community groups from across the UK will be taking part in the run-up to Christmas, filling shoeboxes with gifts and taking them to designated drop off points between November 1st and November 18th.
- To get involved and order your FREE resources, click here.
