As the Fellowship of the Cross formally launches our 2022 Operation Christmas Child campaign, we remember that our shoeboxes from 2014 and 2016 were distributed in Ukraine, a nation now ravaged by war.
We trusted Jesus to use those boxes to launch and nourish His relationships with children and families in Ukraine, and we pray that those relationships are providing strength and hope today.
We never know where our OCC shoeboxes may travel, but we know that children and families who receive them will be introduced to Jesus and strengthened by His presence in their lives.
A story on the OCC website tells the story of Vladimir, who received a shoebox as an 11-year-old living in an orphanage in Ukraine. His favorite gifts included a coloring book, pencil, markers, and a toy car. He was later adopted by an American family.
“When I think back to that day in the orphanage and all the gifts provided by so many generous people, I think also about how God cares for us and often shows His love through even the littlest things—like toy cars,” Vladimir wrote. “God works in amazing and tangible ways through such ordinary things and ordinary people, and He used the simple generosity of people thousands of miles away to speak to me that day. It was through those thoughtful little gifts I received that I finally understood that God really did care personally for me.”
We have been among the “ordinary people” providing the “littlest things” for God to use to show His love.
The Sewickley UMC family has filled more than 1,100 shoeboxes in the past 11 years. We have packed 100 or more boxes in each of the past 10 years. In addition to Ukraine, our boxes have reached children in the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Ecuador, Columbia, the Bahamas, and multiple nations in Africa.
May, June, July, and August are our most important collection months. We will invite church family into a packing event in September.
FOTC will be accepting donations such as toothbrushes, combs and brushes, school supplies, small toys and stuffed animals, jewelry, socks and t-shirts, ball caps, and empty shoeboxes. We can accept very “gently-used” gifts. We cannot accept toothpaste, bar soap, liquids of any kind, war-themed gifts, or candy.
A collection box for OCC sits outside the church office and in the Narthex, and we can accept financial gifts through church-giving windows throughout the year.
FOTC is immensely thankful for those who contributed to OCC in recent months. Your gifts have provided an encouraging foundation for our 2022 campaign.