International (MNN) — Some 7-million needy children around the world will be receiving special Christmas presents this year, delivered in shoeboxes.
The world’s largest international Christmas project, Operation Christmas Child is airlifting nearly 200-thousand shoeboxes from locations in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Denver, Colorado, this week with the help of two of the world’s largest airplanes.
Huge rallies, held today and Tuesday, gathered thousands of kids who helped hand-pack the shoeboxes to celebrate the send-off of the gifts. Each box is filled with little gifts of love and comfort, and sent to children who are victims of war, persecution, poverty and terror in places like Beslan, Sudan and Colombia.
A project of Samaritan’s Purse, the hand-delivered shoeboxes bring joy, hope and the love of Christ to needy children in 95 countries. Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has given out more than 31-million shoeboxes to kids in more than 120 countries on 6 continents. They use whatever means necessary to hand-deliver the shoeboxes to needy children around the world, and with it, display the love of Christ through simple shoebox gifts.
For more information about Operation Christmas Child and Samaritan’s Purse, go to their website at www.samaritanspurse.org.
