In the summer of 1993, Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham received a call from a man in England asking if he’d be willing to fill shoeboxes with gifts for children in war-torn Bosnia. Franklin agreed, but figured Christmas was months away. He forgot about the promise until he received a call back around Thanksgiving asking about the gifts.
Franklin asked his friend, the late Pastor Ross Rhoads of Calvary Church of Charlotte to see if he could help with the need. A Sunday shortly afterward, Pastor Rhoads demonstrated for his congregation how to fill a shoebox with simple gifts and encouraged them to include a letter to the child as well. Within weeks, the church had 11,000 shoeboxes lining their hallways.
Due to their generosity and additional gifts from Canada, Samaritan’s Purse sent 28,000 shoebox gifts to children in the Balkans that Christmas. Through these gifts, they communicated to children and their families what the angel said to the shepherds about Jesus’ birth: “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people”
(Luke 2:10, ESV).
Every year since, Samaritan’s Purse has collected shoebox gifts filled with toys, school supplies, and hygiene items for children around the world. Since 1993, more than 188 million children in more than 170 countries and territories have received an Operation Christmas Child shoebox. The project delivers not only the joy of what, for many kids, is their first gift ever, but also gives them a tangible expression of God’s love.
Tens of thousands of volunteers from local churches around the world partner with Samaritan’s Purse to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ at festive outreach events where children are surprised with these shoebox gifts.
This whole process is made possible by caring individuals who pack shoeboxes full of quality gifts for children in need. Many of these shoebox packers also use the “Follow Your Box” feature to discover the country where their gift will be delivered.
More than 9,000 year-round volunteers also get the word out about the Samaritan’s Purse project across the U.S. In addition, some 80,000 short-term volunteers serve in more than 4,000 drop-off locations open across the country every year during National Collection Week, the third week in November. Each shoebox collected then travels to one of their processing centers to be inspected and prepared for international shipment by 90,000 volunteers. All of this is supported by the 30,000 volunteers in their prayer network.
In 2020 alone, more than 9.1 million Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts were collected throughout Australia, Austria, Canada, Finland, Germany, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
I’ve had the opportunity to work in partnership with Samaritan’s Purse, once again, along with our partner here, Hope Church. Our host here, Raul, is passionate about using both activities and the words of the Gospel to spread the love of Christ in southern Romania. The boxes we receive here in Romania are shipped directly from Samaritan’s Purse in Germany for us to then pass out to children and youth in the community. We have been able to spread the love of Christ to the children in Roma communities and the youth in Craiova throughout the city and all of southern Romania through these simple shoe boxes. Check out these photos below that I had the amazing opportunity to take at one Roma community we brought gifts to!
Together we are working to see “a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb”(Rev. 7:9-10).
