Good news… great joy… all the people.
The heralded message of Christmas is timeless, which is why we can choose a Sunday morning in July to help the Love and Light of Jesus reach more of the world’s youngest people.
As the Sewickley UMC family is celebrating Christmas in July on July 24, the Fellowship of the Cross is asking church family to consider making a contribution toward our 2022 Operation Christmas Child campaign. You can leave a gift under the tree that will be in the sanctuary only July 24, or you can make a financial donation.
A year ago, the contributions we found beneath our Christmas in July tree were significant and most likely enhanced each of the 100 shoeboxes we filled in October. Those boxes were later delivered to children in the Dominican Republic and Honduras.
Our 2022 drive received a familiar boost when Kara, Elliett, and Evarett delivered more than a dozen shoeboxes wrapped in Christmas paper in June, then took home multiple armfuls of unwrapped boxes donated by the SUMC family. ‘Tis truly OCC season when Kara and family begin wrapping boxes.
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 the Dominican Republic and Honduras, our boxes have reached children in Ecuador, Columbia, the Bahamas, and multiple nations in Africa. Twice, our boxes have reached children in Ukraine.
June, July, and August are our most important collection months. We will invite church family into a packing event that will be scheduled in September or October.
FOTC will be accepting donations such as school supplies (pens, pencils, colored pencils, markers, crayons, glue sticks, erasers, rulers, and notebooks that fit in a shoebox), combs and brushes, small toys, balls, stuffed animals, jewelry, hair accessories, socks, 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.
If you can’t visit our “Christmas in July” tree, a collection box for OCC sits outside the church office, and we can accept financial gifts through church-giving windows throughout the year. Your financial gifts help cover shipping costs for our shoeboxes.
FOTC is immensely thankful for those who contributed to OCC in recent months. Your gifts have provided an encouraging foundation for our 2022 campaign.