Operation Christmas Child Central Continues At FBC Bratt

November 23, 2013

Volunteers are busy at the First Baptist Church of Bratt during “National Collection Week” for Operation Christmas Child. For the 20th year, the simple, gift-filled shoe boxes will bring Christmas joy and evangelistic materials to children in over 130 countries across the world.

National Collection Week for OCC  continues through November 25. The First Baptist  Church of Bratt will be the official OCC Relay Center for the north end of Escambia County, Florida. The FBC Bratt will also accept boxes from individuals, groups or churches in  and Escambia County, Alabama, again this year.3

“This is not about the FBC of Bratt”, says Student Pastor Tim Hawsey, Relay Center coordinator. “This is about being a blessing and bringing God’s love and hope to children in poverty around the world that would not  receive it otherwise. We have gone through the intense process of been approved as a church to be a Relay Center to collect the boxes from individuals, families, and churches of our area, document and pack them into special cartons and take them to the next level for Samaritan’s Purse, and we are blessed to do it.”

Collection hours at the First Baptist Church of Bratt will be:

  • Saturday, Nov. 23: 8 a.m. – noon
  • Sunday, Nov. 24: 8 a.m. – noon, 4-6 p.m.
  • Monday, Nov. 25: 8 a.m. – 11 a.m.

The boxes collected this year at FBC Bratt will go through the Atlanta Processing Center then will be shipped to the countries of Belize, Botswana, Columbia, Dominican Republic, Gabon, Georgia, Ghana, Haiti, Macedonia, Madagascar, Niger, Seychelles, Suriname, Trinidad, Tobago, and the Ukraine.

Operation Christmas Child boxes should be packed in a specific manner, and there are changes this year. For more information, call Hawsey at the First Baptist Church of Bratt at (850) 327-6529, visit www.samaritanspurse.org/occ, or call (800) 353-5949. Resources are available for churches that wish to participate.

Comments

2 Responses to “Operation Christmas Child Central Continues At FBC Bratt”

  1. Nancy Peters on November 23rd, 2013 2:34 pm

    See http://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/pack-a-shoe-box/
    for information on how to pack shoeboxes. This includes ideas to pack and things to NOT pack. No liquids of any kind. No war toys or Barbie type dolls. If you can get a clear plastic shoebox with a lid those are best as the child can keep them longer. I line the inside of my clear shoebox with gift wrap and it works great. Most in demand are GOOD quality pencils, like Ticonderoga or Dixon brands, erasers, and good sharpeners. In many countries the children cannot attend school unless they have pencils. Hygiene items like toothbrushes, toothpaste, and Ivory soap are good. Ivory soap floats and this helps them find it if they drop it in the river :) Boys LOVE marbles! I buy tennis balls and bags of balloons, all children love those. I have been packing shoebox gifts for many years and have found the most wanted items to be these things.

  2. Puddin on November 23rd, 2013 7:52 am

    What goes in the boxes?

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