Saturday, May 5, 2012

Shoe Box Organization Extraordinaire

 I am always amazed at how well some people are able to organize their Operation Christmas Child shoebox items.  I tend to be organizationally challenged by nature and I can never seem to keep up with the sheer number of blessings God sends our way for our shoeboxes.   So I love to see people who have it all together.

Today I was blessed to be invited to speak about Operation Christmas Child at the Mother's Day Luncheon at Cambridge Springs CMA Church.  Cheryl French, their project leader for OCC, was kind enough to give me a tour of their small but well-organized Shoebox Room.  Plastic bins and boxes keep each type of item divided and ready for their packing party next fall
 They already have most of their boxes wrapped and ready for packing, too.  Last year they packed 175 boxes and are shooting for at least 200 this year  (although I'm secretly cheering for the brave woman who said they should pack 1,000 boxes.)
Church members keep busy all year making items like tote bags, pencil cases, hair scrunchies, purses, and small bags for marbles.  Nothing is wasted.
As I told the ladies today, I wish I could bring before them every child who has received one of the boxes they've packed so they could see how they are blessing so many around the world.

Since I couldn't do that, I hope they understood that the stories I told them today are really the stories of their shoebox recipients, too.

With their help, God is going to answer our prayers for Northwestern PA in 2012.  As the body of Christ in Erie, Crawford, and Warren counties prayerfully come together we can make sure there will be 40,000 fewer children who have to wait to get a shoebox gift.

That's extraordinary.

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