Dan and I just returned from working at the Operation Christmas Child Processing Center in Boone, North Carolina. This is a trip we look forward to each year and it always seems like the hours just fly by and before we know it…we are heading back home.
Many of you always make a point to fill boxes for this worthy cause. But I was thinking there might be some of you who aren’t familiar with what happens to your box after you drop it off at a collection center. You may be under the assumption that your box goes directly to the blessed child after leaving the collection center…but that is not the case. So, I thought I would use my blog post today as a Public Service Announcement to fill you in on some of the details.
After the boxes are dropped off at the collection location in your area, they are then secured with rubber bands and packed in larger cartons so they can be taken to one of the eight processing centers across the country…like the one we worked at in Boone. The cartons are then unloaded from the semi-trucks and placed at the end of each processing line. This is the area where we work each day.
The first person on the line is the pre-inspector (this is usually my job). I take a shoebox from a large carton, remove the rubber bands and place them inside the box (they say the recipients love getting these bands!). My job is to make sure the top of the box has a label on it with the information marked as to whether the box is for a boy or girl and the age group for which it was packed. I then open the box and look for any money that may be inside. They ask that you give $10.00 for each shoebox you pack to help defray the shipping costs and so my job is to remove that money and drop it into a safe box. This is why it is so helpful if you put the money on top of all the contents of the box so it can be easily seen. Some choose to pay the shipping money online, so not every box will have money…but it’s my responsibility to search the contents for any checks or cash. Not only is it important to find the money to help with shipping…but we are told that if cash is left in the box…the child receiving the box could be in danger if it is made known they had been given money.
I then pass this box on to one of the “inspectors” (usually two on each side of the line). Their job is to go through everything in the box to make sure there is nothing inappropriate. What I mean by this is that there are various items that are not allowed in the countries where these boxes are sent…so they need to be removed before shipping. There are also items which are not allowed because they could break during shipping and cause damage to the other contents.
Examples of inappropriate items are shampoo, body wash, snow globes, juice boxes, lotions, bubbles, toothpaste etc. Food items are not allowed because it sometimes takes 4-6 months for a box to reach its location and these foods wouldn’t be fresh after that length of time. One year we had a box which contained homemade cookies…which was a nice thought…but they would have been rather nasty by the time the child received them! We are also instructed to remove used or damaged items, war-related items such as toy guns, knives, or military figures, medications, vitamins or aerosol cans. Whatever is taken out of the box is not thrown away…but is given to children in need inside the United States who can receive it more quickly.
The inspector then has “filler” items in front of them which they can add to the box to replace the things that needed to be removed. This ensures that each child receives a well-filled box at the time of distribution.
Once the box is adequately filled, it is then given to the “taper”. This person runs tape completely around the box to ensure that the lid stays closed and no items are lost.
The box is then handed to one of the “packers”. These workers (usually three or four of them) check to see if there is a “Follow Your Shoebox” label on the box. If there is, then the barcode on the label is scanned along with the code on the larger shipping box. This information is then sent to the person who originally packed the shoebox so they know exactly where their box was distributed.
The packers then place the shoeboxes in the larger shipping box according to whether they are for a boy or a girl and by the age for which they are designated. The packers’ job is sometimes like putting a puzzle together, since there are various sizes of boxes and tubs used. They need to be good at figuring out how to get all the mismatched boxes in the shipping box without lost space.
Once the shipping box is full, the packer places the large carton on a conveyor belt, which moves the box to the end of the line. At that location the box is taped closed and loaded in a semi-truck to begin its journey to its final location.
The goal this year at the Boone processing center is to process 780,000 shoeboxes….and that is just for one center! It is an amazing experience to be a part of such a worthy cause.
Do these boxes have an impact on the recipients? There is a man who, at the age of seven, was in an orphanage with 250 children in Rwanda. He said excitement was high when they received their boxes…because this was the first gift any of them had EVER received! Can you imagine? As a result of being given this box, along with the fact that He was introduced to Jesus through this event, he asked Jesus into his heart.
I remember hearing from a regional director for East Africa who told of one of his trips to deliver the boxes. He talked to a young boy, Frankie, and asked him what he hoped to get in his box. Frankie answered that he wanted a blue shirt with buttons down the front. The director started to tell him that he was doubtful he would get a shirt like that in his box, but before the words came out of his mouth, he felt the Lord telling him to be quiet and not squelch the boy’s enthusiasm.
Sometime later, the director saw Frankie and asked him what was in his box. With his face beaming, he showed the man the blue shirt with buttons down the front which he had received. He was so excited and said he wanted the shirt to wear to church on Sunday. Later, after returning to the states, the director was telling this story and a woman’s face lit up. She said she had been in Walmart and found 10 blue, buttoned down shirts for $1.00 a piece, so she had bought them all and put one in each of her boxes. Coincidence? I think not!
In another instance there were two brothers, but because there weren’t enough boxes to give to everyone, only one of the brothers received a box. But when the one boy opened his box, there were two of everything inside. Once again, the Lord had provided.
When you hear of children who are thrilled to finally have their very own toothbrush, instead of having to share one toothbrush between many children…children who are thrilled to finally have a bowl to put soup in – instead of having to cup their hands to hold the hot broth…children who receive a shoebox as their first present ever and as a result, ask Jesus into their heart…it makes time spent filling shoeboxes as time well spent.
If you have never filled a shoebox, I urge you to do it next year. In fact, you can still fill a shoebox online for this year at https://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/buildonline/. For $25.00 (which includes shipping) you can “build” a shoebox which will be sent to a child to make sure they know that Jesus loves them. It’s a small price to pay to have a huge impact on eternity!
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’”
Matthew 25:34-40
