That was the exclamation from a 5 year old boy
with tears welling up in his eyes.
That's because making shoebox gifts
with Samaritan's Purse
was so much fun!
Handed the cam to someone else so I could be documented in the fun.
Yes, Jake is taller than me. And yes, he was having fun trying to sabotage our pic.
I wanted to give you all a recap.
Calli's friend had a goal to make 50 shoeboxes
and we were able to knock out 75!
Here are a few pics of the packing party.
And thanks to all the families that gave up their stormy Friday night to make this happen!
It wouldn't have been nearly as much fun without you!
MyAwesomeServantheartedFaithfulHospitableFriendSarah
The wrapping station
Brother and sister packing together
Our efforts
I posted about this a few weeks ago.
I hope that if you have the opportunity next year that you will participate with
Samaritan's Purse in whatever capacity you are able.
Some ideas:
You can make a few boxes of your own at home and drop them at a collection center.
You can just donate items, most readily available at the Dollar Store.
You can donate money for shipping costs or miscellaneous expenses.
You could get your church, school, club or neighborhood in on it and organize a larger effort.
All of the information, resources, drop centers and how to's can be found at
Or you could inspire your young person to get involved.
What an amazing learning opportunity and accomplishment, not to mention the joy of giving to so many beautiful children all over the world.
You can do what Calli's 13 year old friend did and organize your own effort.
Here is what she did:
1) set an attainable goal and went to a training
2) sent an evite to friends and family with a list of items and quantities she was collecting
3) combined efforts with homeschooling friends (US!)
4) planned a night when we could all put it all together
5) left them at a local collection center to be shipped
I was thrilled to hear that the stories from the people who get the joy of delivering boxes to the recipients are AMAZING! I am much more impressed to make our participation next year bigger.
I pulled this picture off of their website. AMAZING!
These tiny little boxes not only make a difference, but they actually change lives. Stories of little children getting exactly what they need, a young boy in Mexico receiving carpentry tools so he was able to learn the family trade. Carpentry tools are not common in these boxes and the gifts are randomly packed and chosen. A story of a little girl in Romania who wished and wished for hair clips and received a box full of only hair accessories and realized that she was loved and her life was changed.
Personally I had always wondered if these boxes were effective or if we were just causing children to desire more and somehow leaking our American culture on them.
It turns out that these gifts are truly inspired and they
undoubtedly change lives.
I'm hooked.
Feel free to comment with your own shoebox stories.
Maybe next year we'll all be packing together!
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