One of our core values at Fox Valley church is a passion for local and world outreach. We are inviting the entire body at Fox Valley Church to participate in the annual packing of shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child in a unified effort to support this core value. Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian relief and evangelism organization headed by Franklin Graham. The mission of Operation Christmas Child is to demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way to children in need around the world, and together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has collected and delivered more than 209 million gift-filled shoeboxes to children in more than 170 countries and territories. For many of these children, the gift-filled shoebox is the first gift they have ever received, and every box is an opportunity for a child and their family to hear the Gospel!

Our goal again this year is to fill 500 shoeboxes (350 physical boxes and 150 online boxes)! That’s a big goal, so we are asking each family to pack at least one shoebox, and then share a shoebox with a friend or neighbor and asking them to pack a shoebox as well. Beginning Sunday, October 15, shoeboxes will be available in the Café for you to take home and pack. You will also be able to pick up information about packing a shoebox as well as labels to attach to your shoebox. You may start returning your packed boxes to the Operation Christmas Child resource table in the Café from Sunday, October 22 through Sunday, November 12. The National Collection Week is November 13-20 and we will be donating all boxes to our local collection site during this week.