Pictured Operation Christmas Child volunteer Area Coordinator Patty Jennings presents a shoebox gift to a boy in Ecuador while elephants deliver cartons of the gifts elsewhere in the world. An information program on the international outreach effort will be held June 1 in Rome.
(Rome, NY – May 2013) On Saturday, June 1, Resurrection Life Church at 628 Floyd Ave. in Rome will hold an Operation Christmas Child Celebration and information program starting at 10 a.m.The public is invited to attend the free event to learn more about the ministry that delivers shoe boxes filled with school supplies, hygiene items, and small toys to boys and girls ages 2-14 in areas of disease, disaster, poverty, and famine around the world. There will be displays of crafts to make for the boxes, time for sharing ideas, and refreshments.
Speaker Patty Jennings, Operation Christmas Child volunteer Area Coordinator for Oneida, Herkimer, Lewis, Oswego and Jefferson counties, will share her experiences of presenting the shoe box gifts to children in African, South American and Caribbean countries. Her presentation includes photos and information about how to pack the shoe box gifts that also carry the Gospel message.
Jennings will also offer information on opportunities to travel to the Charlotte, North Carolina, Operation Christmas Child processing center to help prepare the boxes for overseas shipment.
Part of the Celebration is in recognition of more than 100 million shoe box gifts distributed to children around the world since 1993. Operation Christmas Child is a project of the international relief aid organization Samaritan’s Purse headed by Franklin Graham.
Learn more at www.samaritanspurse.org/occ or follow Operation Christmas Child at facebook.com/OCCshoeboxes and Twitter at @OCC_shoeboxes.
For more information on the June 1 program, contact local Operation Christmas Child Relay Center Coordinator Lynn Frei at 315-339-3969 or Patty Jennings at 315-232-2690.