This Reminds Me

Making Operation Christmas Child (OCC) shoeboxes used to be just a fun thing for our family.  Then it all morphed into a tradition – making boxes is our big annual holiday activity.   OCC recently asked me to be its local volunteer media director for 2008, and I agreed, thus proving Keith and my friend Vicki correct about the glaring red “S” (for “Sucker”) on my forehead.

The unretouched view of our guestroom closet – jammed with box stuff.  Julia and Hannah would each like their own bedroom, but I’ve been reluctant to separate one into the guestroom, largely because it means finding another place for all this stuff we buy through the year.  This is Texas – it can’t be stored outside.  I’m thinking I might try buying the gynormous Rubbermaid boxes I’ve seen at Target and stacking several in the gameroom, but that solution presents its own logistical challenges.  (sigh)   I’ll eventually figure it out.  Right now, the closet holds:  Plastic boxes from Shelley, beads from Lisa and Dorothy, a ton’o'Target 75%-off stuffola that Sarah and I snagged after Christmas ’07, assorted leftovers from last year, plus Matchbox cars and bubble gum purhcased with free shipping thanks to slicksdeals.

In training Saturday, I learned:

-  Many contributors now use plastic boxes, and finallyyyy – Samaritan’s Purse is trying to reach a joint marketing agreement with a supplier, probably Rubbermaid.
-  There’s a national partnership in the works for them with Chick-Fil-A, and K-Love Radio – both favorites at our house.
-  The most commonly-observed use for the plastic boxes?  Children use them to haul water.  It’s a weight they can handle.
-  Each of our boxes contains at least one clothing item (socks, underwear, knitted cap, shirt, whatever) and I’ve never stressed about sizes.  I figure that’s God’s job to sort out, plus, if the recipient can’t wear it, I’d bet he’s standing next to a child who can.  I’ve also never stressed about cold weather clothing items going to hot weather countries, and vice-versa.  The OCC officials told us that knitted caps and gloves are much treasured in tropical countries because the cap keeps a child’s head from being sunburned, and the gloves protect his hands while working in the fields.
-  A six-year-old boy in Russia got a box a few years ago, but had to be coaxed to open it after telling his orphanage director, “I don’t care about the box.  All I want a family.”  His box contained the usual toys, school supplies and candy, plus a picture and mailing address for the donating couple.  The orphanage director wrote them.  Correspondence led to a visit – and eventual adoption.  His box contained his parents.
-  The adult son of a couple in West Virginia died of diabetic complications.  His parents discovered two boxes he was working on and now- years later – are responsible for thousnds being completed.
-  Though 7,689,726 boxes were distributed last year, pastors are begging for millions more.  Remember – these boxes are not “shotgunned” out to the world.  Individual pastors request boxes for individual children.  Asia alone can use 1M more.  In Afghanistan, they need to doube from 20K to 40K.  Ditto for Georgia (Russia) – want to double their 120K.  Pastors in India have more opportunity than ever before to reach children – and they need hundreds of thousands more.   This  pressing need has driven 2008′s theme – “1 MORE – FOR ME.”

Every volunteer in training was given one of these visual reminders yesterday.  Mine is going on our fridge.

OCC leaders told us for many families, involvement is a three-step process – Activity, followed by Tradition, and finally Mission.  I think we’ve arrived at “Mission,” though saying so sounds self-righteous and arrogant.

After six weeks in India and two trips to Russia, I don’t have to be convinced of the need for shoeboxes.  All I have to remember are the excited little faces from Children’s Home #47 when Keith started bringing out toys and treats.  As the children lined up, we could see their anxious eyes glued on the Ziploc bags – “Will I get a Matchbox?  Will I get a pencil?  Is there one for me?”

We don’t aim for a number of boxes to complete at home.  We never have.  We do as many as we are supposed to do.  Though this year – as we haunt the clearance caps at Target, grab the after-Halloween candy and start stripping the packaging from toothpaste tubes, a number will be buzzing around my brain – the number “1.”

One More – please, just 1 MORE – FOR ME.

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