Faith Community Church's Operation Christmas Child

11/16/2025

Final shoe box turn in is this Sunday, 16 November.

10/27/2025

Operation Christmas Child 2025 is underway with a bang! This year we’re hoping to pack 450 shoe boxes. Please pray for OCC’s global efforts to bring the Gospel to children worldwide!

10/21/2025

10/21/2025

Operation Christmas Child 2025 Overview video.

Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts continue to bring evangelism, discipleship, and the multiplication of believers and churches around the world! See why you should help us leave a positive impact on the lives of millions of children each year.

10/21/2025

10/21/2025

2025 Operation Christmas Child Background Information

• Operation Christmas Child (OCC), a ministry of Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse, packs shoebox gifts filled with fun toys, school supplies, hygiene items and the Gospel message in that child’s own language—and delivers them to children in need around the world to demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way. For many of these children, the gift—filled shoebox is the first gift they have ever received.
• Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child, the world’s largest Christmas project of its kind, has collected and delivered more than 235 million shoebox gifts to children in more than 170 countries and territories.
• During National Collection Week (Nov. 17–24, 2025), Samaritan’s Purse will collect the gift filled shoeboxes at nearly 4,500 drop off locations in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Shoebox gifts are prepared for overseas shipment at eight major processing centers across the U.S.—Atlanta; Baltimore/Washington; Boone, North Carolina; Charlotte, North Carolina; Dallas/Fort Worth; Denver; Chicago; and Fullerton, California.
• Shoebox gifts are also collected in Australia, Austria, Canada, Finland, Germany, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States.
• After collecting 12 million shoeboxes globally in 2024, Operation Christmas Child hopes to collect enough shoeboxes to reach 13 million children in 2025, with 11 million of these boxes coming from the U.S. Over 500,000 volunteers worldwide—with nearly 200,000 of those in the U.S.—are involved in collecting, shipping and distributing shoebox gifts.
• Eternal Impact. Delivered into the hands of children through local churches, every shoe box gift is an opportunity to share about Jesus Christ and God’s love. Through OCC, not just the children, but their parents, relatives and communities are also exposed to the saving grace of the Gospel. OCC estimates that for each child reached, six (6) additional individuals are also exposed to the Gospel.

• Since 2009, more than 34 million children who have received a shoebox gift have participated in The Greatest Journey—a 12 lesson discipleship program. Children learn from trained, local volunteers what it means to follow Jesus and share their faith with friends and family.

• This w/be FCC’s 21sth year participating in OCC; during that time we’ve packed approx.10,450 shoe boxes = approx.62,700 Gospel contacts. Last year FCC packed 400 shoe boxes which went to island nations in the Caribbean, Ukraine, Lesotho, Namibia, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi and South Africa.

• This year’s OCC campaign will start Sunday, 26 Oct and finish with final drop off on Sunday, 16 Nov. Empty shoe boxes will be available in the sanctuary beginning Sunday, 26 October. We'll also have bulk discounted child hygiene items, school supplies and select toys available for donation located in Activity Room #1. Our goal this year is 450 packed shoe boxes.

• We hope that you will be a part of this exciting Christmas opportunity to share God's love with a child. For updates see our church OCC webpage at facebook.com/FCCOCC. Or just hit the OCC button on the church’s main webpage. For more information, the national OCC webpage can be found at https://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child. Any questions, please contact Ron & Iva Grahek.

10/21/2025

HOW TO PACK A SHOEBOX
(Operation Christmas Child 2025)
http://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/ #
1. PRAY: for the children your boxes will go to and for insight on what to put in them. Samaritan’s Purse considers the items put into a box as “a Godly appointment”! May the Holy Spirit move you to put just the right items that child or family wants/needs into your box!
2. Shoebox: pick up your cardboard shoe box at FCC, use ones from home, or use a 6-QT clear plastic containers w/lids.
3. Boy or Girl: Each shoebox must be designated by gender and age: either for a boy or a girl & age categories of: (2-4), (5-9) or (10-14). Mark the age category and tape label (provided in this box) to the top of your box.
3. If you choose, wrap your box in Christmas paper. Ensure the lid is wrapped separately so the box can be opened (all boxes are checked to insure items are appropriate for shipping). DO NOT tape the box shut; however, please put two large rubber bands (supplied) around the box to ensure it stays closed.
4. Fill your shoe box per information below. Please help cover shipping and other costs related to delivering your shoeboxes to children overseas by donating $10.00 for each box you prepare. NO CASH PLEASE! You can write a check to Samaritan’s Purse (note “OCC” on the memo line) and place it in an envelope on top of the items inside your shoebox. If you’re preparing multiple gifts, please make one combined donation. This year we’ll be issuing adhesive labels w/bar codes for tracking your shoebox online (if you wish). Just pay your $10 online and when your shoe box(es) ship overseas, you will receive an e-mail telling you the destination of your gift and information about Operation Christmas Child in that country. For Follow Your Box, go to: https://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/follow-your-box/
WHAT TO PACK: Toys: small cars, balls, dolls, stuffed animals, plastic kazoos, harmonicas, yo-yo, toys that light up or make noise (with extra batteries), etc. Again we will have discounted shoe box items for a voluntary donation in Activity Room #1.
• School supplies: pen, pencils and sharpeners, crayons or marker stamps and ink pad sets, coloring books, writing pads or paper, solar calculators, etc.
• Non-Liquid Hygiene items: tooth brushes, bar soap (last year for giving soap owing to increased scrutiny by host countries), washcloth, comb etc.
• Accessories: t-shirts, socks, hats, sunglasses, flashlights (with extra batteries), etc., toy jewelry sets, hair clips, watches, small picture books, etc. Please NO USED TOYS OR CLOTHING. Visit your local “dollar/discount” store. Ask the store manager if any discounts are available; if you explain what it’s for, sometimes they will simply give you items!
• WHAT NOT TO PACK (THE “DON’TS”): NO TOOTHPASTE OR CANDY!!! No perishable items (canned items, crackers); no liquid items (shampoo, lotion, bubbles, etc.); no medicines (vitamins, cough drops, ointment, etc.); no breakable items (mirror, china dolls, etc.), no military type toys, i.e. toy soldiers, guns, weapons, knives, etc.
• Feel free to write a note to the child with your picture and address. Most importantly, pray for your box and the child who receives it.

5. Kick-off Sunday is 26 October where you can find empty shoe boxes in the church foyer. Last day to turn in Shoe Boxes at FCC is Sunday, 16 NOV where we’ll celebrate and pray over the shoe boxes. Continue to PRAY for the children who will receive your boxes along with their family members, friends, neighbors and villagers and for all the volunteers who help all along the way to get the box to its final destination. You may also enclose a family picture or note to the child.
6. YOU CAN ALSO BUILD A SHOEBOX ON-LINE! Go to the website below; click on “Pack a Shoebox” in the green bar at the top of the page; select “Build a Shoebox on-line now”.
https://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/buildonline/

7. Volunteer Opportunities: FCC will provide volunteers for the Bowie Shoe Box Relay Center (Jireh Place on Route 450 just west of Bowie High School) on Saturday, 22 Nov, from 10am – noon. Keep an eye on the FCC OCC webpage for details: https://www.facebook.com/FCCOCC. The Processing Center this year will be located at 7210 Ambassador Road, Windsor Mill, MD. 21244 operating from 26 Nov – 10 Dec and registration begins online on September 30th at 8 a.m. To volunteer and register, go to: https://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/volunteer-at-a-shoebox-processing-center/

Before shoeboxes can bring hope and joy to children around the world, each one has to be carefully inspected and made ready for overseas shipment by volunteers like you. Learn more

10/21/2025

Operation Christmas Child 2025 Campaign
26 October to 16 November

Last year more than 12 million hurting and unsaved children experienced the joy of Christmas as Samaritan’s Purse distributed gift-filled shoe boxes to some 150 countries and territories. This will be the 21th year that Faith Community Church (FCC) has participated in Operation Christmas Child (OCC) and the entire church body has a chance to share Christ and the Gospel message with a needy child through the gift of a simple shoe box.

For new church members, Operation Christmas Child is a project of Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Purse, a world-wide Gospel outreach ministry. In October and November, people across the country will be packing shoe boxes with hygiene items, school supplies, small toys and other age-appropriate gifts. Those shoe boxes are then shipped worldwide to missionary teams who then host shoe box distribution parties where the Gospel is presented in the child's own language. For those children seeking to commit themselves to Jesus Christ, a 12-week follow-on discipleship program is available.

To date over 232 million shoe boxes with the Gospel message have been distributed to unreached and underserved children worldwide. Through OCC, not just the children, but their parents, relatives and communities are also exposed to the saving grace of the Gospel. OCC estimates that for each child reached, seven (7) additional individuals are also exposed to the Gospel.

OCC 2025 campaign begins on 26 October with final shoe box drop off on Sunday 16 November. Last year the church packed 405 shoe boxes. Our goal this year is to pack 450 shoe boxes.

Empty shoe boxes will be available on the stage in the main Sanctuary beginning Sunday, 16 October. We'll also have bulk discounted child hygiene items, school supplies and select toys available for purchase by donation in Activity Room #1. Can’t pack a shoe box, but you’d still like to help? Consider contributing to shoe box shipping & handling costs by placing a donation in a church donation envelope, annotate OCC on it, and place it in the donation box located at the back of the church.

We hope that you will be a part of this exciting Christmas opportunity to share God's love with a child. For more information, or just to stay up to date on OCC news, check the church’s OCC Face Book page at: www.facebook.com/FCCOCC. Or you can reach the page via the church’s main page and select the Operation Christmas Child link. The national OCC webpage can be found at https://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child. Any questions, please contact Ron & Iva Grahek.