An extraordinary opportunity to help instill this value in him came across my my way in a very ordinary manner - it was a busy day at work so I decided to grab a quick lunch at a nearby Chick-fil-A to take back to my office. As I reached into my bag, I found a small card. On it was an advertisement for Operation Christmas Child - a charitable event where you simply pack a shoebox and send it overseas to a child in need. You can even pick the age range and gender of the child and if you donate money to aid in the shipping of your box online, you even receive a barcode to put on your box so you can personally track your shoebox and see where it goes.
I had never heard of this organization, so I pulled them up online and found a great organization that is doing great things for people of all ages in need.
And so I saved that card - and on Friday afternoon the little man and I set off to fill his shoebox.
Before shopping, I reminded the little man about all the places we went to just last summer on our cruise - places like Haiti. I explained that those other countries had many children, just like him, who unfortunately don't have a home, school or even toys like him. I explained that they lived in a beautiful - but poor - country and asked if he would like to help a little boy just like him in one of those countries have a special Christmas, too.
"Yeah," he said, smiling. "I wanna help!"
"Mommy will help you, but I want you to pick out the things for the box," I said. "Can you do that?"
The little man smiled and nodded his head.
The rules were simple: pack a shoebox with a combination of fun and useful items. The recommended items included things like small toys and hard candy, paired with other items like toothpaste, a washcloth and school supplies. To my surprise, the little man understood that the not-so-fun items were just as important as the toys and candy. He understood much more than I thought he would, which made me even prouder seeing how proud he was.
We bought colorful crayons, a green harmonica (just like the little man's), pencils, a Wall-E toothbrush (also just like his), his favorite hard candies (Smarties), a bright red race car toy and more. We stuffed the shoebox until it could be stuffed no more. We topped it off with a note from the little man, wishing his new friend a very merry Christmas. We then closed the box and affixed our label.
"Mamma, does my new friend like Smarties?" the little man asked as he himself munched on some candies.
"I think he will love them," I replied.
"Yeah, I think he will, too," the little man said matter-of-factly as he proudly looked at his box.
{We will be tracking our box online and will update you on the travels of our box as we know them. Where will it go? The answer is yet unknown and sadly, there are many possible destinations. However, all that matters is that somewhere, some other little man is able to share in some Christmas joy. And somewhere, some other mother will also be able to see the excitement and magic of Christmas wash across her little man's face.}
November 15-22 is the national pick-up week for this nationwide event. If you would also like to participate in Operation Christmas Child, visit www.samaritanspurse.org/occ.
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