Scouts from Troop 2 of Clearfield recently completed community service at St. John Lutheran Church by helping prepare for its Operation Christmas Child shoebox-packing event.
They folded around 250 red-and-green shoeboxes in record time. Afterwards, each scout filled a shoebox with school supplies, hygiene items and fun toys including a soccer ball and pump.
Scouts also included a handwritten note and this picture of their Troop so the children who receive their gifts may have it as a special keepsake.
The church will host its shoebox-packing event Oct. 27-28, from 1 p.m. – 4 p.m., each day. For information or questions, please call Jane Davis at 814-762-6020.
For information or questions on Operation Christmas Child in West Central PA, please contact Shelly Rhoades via e-mail at shell.rhoades@yahoo.com or call/text at 805-469-8245
About Operation Christmas Child
Across the United States, Operation Christmas Child – the world’s largest Christmas project of its kind – collected more than 9.1 million shoebox gifts in 2021.
Combined with those collected from partnering countries in 2021, the ministry is now sending more than 10.5 million shoebox gifts to children world-wide.
Each gift-filled shoebox—packed with fun toys, school supplies and hygiene items—is a tangible expression of God’s love, and it is often the first gift these children have ever received.
Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has collected and delivered over 198 million shoeboxes to children in over 170 countries and territories.
The ministry hopes to collect 11 million shoebox gifts – globally – in 2022, including 9.4 million in the United States, and its 200 millionth shoebox gift National Collection Week Nov. 14-21.
Many children who receive shoebox gifts will also enroll in Operation Christmas Child’s 12-lesson discipleship program, The Greatest Journey.
Children learn from trained, local volunteers what it means to follow Jesus Christ, as well as to share their faith with friends and family.
Since 2009, more than 30.9 million children who have received a shoebox gift have participated in The Greatest Journey. Every child who graduates is given a New Testament in their own language.
Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian relief and evangelism organization headed by Franklin Graham.
Samaritan’s Purse currently works in more than 100 countries to provide aid to victims of war, disease, disaster, poverty and famine.