The Canada-wide 2011 Operation Christmas Child shoe box collection season kicks off today, as thousands of individuals, families, churches, businesses, and community groups prepare to fill shoe boxes with toys, school supplies, and hygiene items, plus personal notes and photos.

The gift-filled shoe boxes will be delivered by Samaritan’s Purse to children around the world living in the midst of poverty, disease, war, and natural disaster. As part of Samaritan’s Purse’s rebuilding efforts in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake and subsequent hurricanes and cholera outbreak, 70,000 shoe boxes in 2011 have been committed to Haiti and will be used to bring hope, joy, and love to children there.

Last year, Canadians filled 640,714 shoe boxes with gifts that shared God’s love and hope with children in the developing world. This year, Operation Christmas Child is striving towards a goal of more than 750,000 boxes. To reach that goal, we need Canadians from coast to coast to get involved. Together, we can use the power of a simple gift to touch the hearts of children and change lives.

National Shoe Box Collection Week is November 21-27. Each gift-filled shoe box collected in Canada will make a long journey to the outstretched hands of a needy child in Haiti, South or Central America, or West Africa.

Available resources:

• 2011 Operation Christmas Child fact sheet
• About Operation Christmas Child
• Radio Ads
• Print Ads
• TV PSAs
• Video b-roll of shoe box distributions

To learn more about Operation Christmas Child, visit samaritanspurse.ca/occ.

Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has been a vital project of Samaritan’s Purse – a Christian relief and development organization providing physical and spiritual aid to hurting people around the world.

The shoe box is just the beginning, because Operation Christmas Child is creating opportunities for Samaritan’s Purse to provide other help to children, their families, and their communities in the form of safe drinking water, literacy and job skills initiatives, feeding programs, medical care, and more.