Staff Sergeant Katrina Rockel has had little hope for her marriage since her husband, Lieutenant Colonel Devin Rockel, returned from a nine-month deployment over six years ago. “I never got my husband back,” she said. “We were best friends. We did everything together. We talked; we joked.” Tears welled in her eyes as she repeated,…
Operation Christmas Child Overview
2020 Special Report
Operation Christmas Child Is Bringing the Hope of the Gospel to 1,000 Pacific Islands
Rengesuul Yobech sat in the shade of a spacious open-air gymnasium at Peleliu Elementary School in Palau on a sweltering late-February afternoon earlier in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe. The school’s 76 students were assembled there, eager to receive gift-filled shoeboxes at the first Operation Christmas Child festive outreach event to take…
200 Millionth Shoebox Gift Celebrated in Charlotte
Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham encouraged volunteers and staff at the Charlotte Processing Center in North Carolina during a community celebration event on Dec. 3. He expressed thanks to volunteers in Charlotte as well as the thousands of volunteers working in seven other processing center locations across the country to prepare shoebox gifts for international…
From One Child to Another
Operation Christmas Child is a project for all ages! You can get the boys and girls in your family and at your church involved in so many ways… 1. Collect Items & Write Shoebox Notes Helping a child select items for a shoebox gift can teach money management, as well as a greater awareness of…
Five Creative Ways to Pack Shoeboxes During COVID-19
A global pandemic isn’t stopping Operation Christmas Child from delivering gift-filled shoeboxes to boys and girls in the far corners of the world. Children need hope now more than ever in such uncertain times, and these tangible expressions of God’s love can be a great encouragement. Most important, children need to hear the Good News…
Young People Play Vital Role in Suriname’s Shoebox Outreach
Suriname bills itself as the greenest country in the world, boasting forests cover 93 percent of its land. Wherever you turn, from the coastal capital to the dense inland jungle, it’s true that the nation seems to burst forth with innumerable flowers, bushes, vines, and trees. Such vibrancy seems to characterize the Operation Christmas Child…












