Year-Round Local Volunteers

Use your talents and gifts to share Operation Christmas Child with your local community!

Connect—Serve Year-Round

Children around the world are learning of the hope and love of Jesus Christ through simple shoe box gifts and God is using local volunteers to encourage more and more people to pack these life-changing gifts. At Operation Christmas Child, year-round volunteers, also known as Connect Volunteers, serve on Area Teams to organize, promote, and pray for the ministry in their own area throughout the year. They are actively involved in fulfilling the Great Commission through Operation Christmas Child (OCC) by using their unique gifts and talents. Make an eternal impact on the lives of children by using your gifts to serve the Lord as a Connect Volunteer on your local Area Team in one of these ministry teams:

Church Relations Teams

Connect Volunteers serving on interdenominational Church Relations Teams reach out to local churches to share the joy of Operation Christmas Child and to support them in fulfilling the Great Commission through this hands-on mission project.

Community Relations Teams

Throughout the year, Connect Volunteers who serve on the Community Relations Team build relationships with community groups such as schools, businesses, and civic organizations, inviting them to pack shoe box gifts to bring joy and hope to children around the world. They also reach out to local businesses to build promotional partnerships to bring awareness to the ministry.

Prayer Mobilization Teams

Prayer Mobilization Teams are made up of Connect Volunteers who have a heart for Jesus Christ and believe in the power of prayer. They commit to pray regularly, and enlist other groups to pray, for various aspects of the ministry, including the children who receive shoe box gifts, destination countries, donors, and other volunteers, as well as the logistics of collection and transportation.

Media Relations Teams

Media Relations Team Members seek and build relationships with local media outlets including print, radio, and television in order to build awareness of Operation Christmas Child. These Connect volunteers serve with their media partners to share the impact these gifts make on a child’s life and to encourage more people to pack shoe box gifts.

Collection Teams

Connect Volunteers at shoe box collection sites enjoy using their gifts of organization, planning, and hospitality to welcome donors to their site, collect the carefully wrapped shoe box gifts, and plan the transportation of these powerful gifts to the Processing Centers.

Leadership

With their gifts of motivating and leading others, Coordinators are responsible for establishing goals and strategies for growing shoe box collection as they plan and implement all Operation Christmas Child activities in their areas. They are also responsible for building a strong volunteer team through the recruitment, selection, training and leadership of all the volunteers who currently serve or who will serve on the team.