Operation Christmas!

The Samaritans Purse is doing there annual Operation Christmas Child again this year & we want you to join in! Operation Christmas Child is a donation of shoeboxes, yes shoeboxes! These are no ordinary shoe boxes; these shoeboxes fill a child with happiness when the world seems bleak. People from all across the UK will be filling their shoeboxes with all kinds of gifts for children. Last year almost 1.2 million shoeboxes got filled and sent off to children in some of the toughest parts of the world! I know we can beat it this year!

Come and share in the power of a simple gift that reminds a child in need that God loves them and they have not been forgotten this Christmas.

Kip McGrath Education Centre in Pitsea will be collecting the boxes and sending them off for you so all you need to do is pop in and give it to them click here for information about Kip McGrath and contact details. Kip McGrath really care about this project. Wikus and Breggie, the owners went out to Ukraine a few winters ago and saw the children receiving these gifts. When speaking to Wikus he told me it was an amazing feeling seeing children with such hard lives full of such joy! Just him telling me about it made me smile too and I straight away rang my family and told them to find bits and bobs that they think would be nice to send off! I would love to be able to go out there like Wikus and Breggie but for now the knowledge that I'm making a child happy is enough.

Anastasia's Story...

Six-year-old Anastasia is one of seven children living with their mother in a small flat in Minsk, Belarus. With her father absent and her family poor, Anastasia has spent her whole life moving from hostel to hostel. While the Government has recently found a flat for them, her mother must work long hours to keep up the mortgage payments. In many ways, the family is only just getting by.

But a ray of light burst into their lives last Christmas, when little Anastasia received her shoebox. Sitting outside the grey, towering flats with her shoebox in hand, she was amazed that someone would care enough to send it to her.

"Thank you so very much," she said. "These gifts are wonderful!" Seeing Anastasia's excitement and laughter, the smile on her mother's face said just how much this simple gift meant.

What to Include?

• Toys: Bear, soft toy, tennis ball, finger puppet, jigsaw, yo-yo, building blocks, small musical instument. For boys trucks and cars, for girls dolls, clip on earings, etc.
• Educational supplies: Felt pens, pens, pencils, pencil sharpener, eraser, colouring book, notepad, picture or puzzle book, chalk, pencil case, stickers, etc.
• Hygiene items: Toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, comb, hair clips, bar of soap, flannel, etc.
• Other items: Sweets (sell-by date to be at least March of the following year), gloves, scarf, sunglasses, cap, hat, bangles, necklaces, etc

What NOT to Include?

• No food: especially chocolate. Only exception, non-chocolate sweets.
• No medicine: or vitamins of any kind.
• No war related items: Toy guns, soldiers or knives of any kind.
• No fragile items: Glass containers, mirrors.
• No liquids: including blow bubbles, shampoo, bubble bath, toiletry sets or aerosols.
• No dangerous items: sharp objects, scissors or razors.
• No novels
• Nothing of a political nature
• No hand-knitted stuffed toys without a CE mark

Please fil a shoebox this year and fill a child with happiness!

Kip McGrath Education Centre

12A Barclays Bank Chambers

Broadway North

High Road

Pitsea

Essex

SS13 3AS

01268 556700

To see more info on this event click here to go to the events page...