Bay Area Kicks Off Season of Giving with Christmas Shoebox Gifts

PLEASANTON, CA, Sept. 13, 2024— For over 10 years, SF East Bay Area residents have been a part of Operation Christmas Child (OCC), a project of Samaritan’s Purse that shares the true meaning of Christmas with children in need in underprivileged countries around the world. On September 22, 2024, volunteers around the San Francisco East Bay will gather at an Operation Christmas Child Kickoff event to start the packing and collection season—with a goal of packing more than 20,000 Christmas shoebox gifts with fun toys, school supplies and personal care items. These gift-filled shoeboxes will contribute to the project’s global goal of reaching more than 12 million children worldwide in Jesus’ Name.

The Operation Christmas Child Kickoff event will take place on

Sunday, September 22, 2024
2:30-4:30PM
Pleasant View Church of Christ
11300 Dublin Canyon Rd, Pleasanton

John Masis, a Regional Manager at Samaritan's Purse, will recount his recent OCC mission trip to Paraguay and the distribution of shoebox gifts there as well as OCC volunteers, John and Suzanne Didlake, discussing their impactful trip to Ecuador, passing out shoebox gifts to children in that region.

Additional local OCC volunteers will discuss the latest updates and goals, new guidelines for packing gifts, and last year's accomplishments. Information and resources will be available to equip everyone in the community to start packing shoeboxes for the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

This fall, the Pleasanton, Livermore, San Ramon, Fremont, Hayward, and Castro Valley drop-off locations and many others in the Bay Area will be the first stop on a journey across the globe for thousands of gifts packed by local families. Together with the church worldwide, Operation Christmas Child will collect and deliver these gifts to children in need overseas in more than 100 countries.

For more information on how to participate in Operation Christmas Child, visit
samaritanspurse.org/occ
fb.com/groups/occsfbayarea

National Collection Week is Nov. 18 – 25. Participants can donate $10 per shoebox gift online through “Follow Your Box” and receive a tracking label to discover its destination. Those who prefer the convenience of online shopping can browse samaritanspurse.org/buildonline to select gifts matched to a child’s specific age and gender, then finish packing the virtual shoebox by adding a photo and personal note of encouragement.

Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan's Purse, seeks 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 220 million gift-filled shoeboxes to children in more than 170 countries and territories.

MEDIA NOTE: For complete media materials including high-resolution downloadable photos, visit samaritanspurse.org/occnewsroom.
Email: occ.trivalley@gmail.com