Millions of children around the world will have the opportunity to hear the Gospel as they receive Operation Christmas Child gifts collected in 2013
God granted Operation Christmas Child another year of growth in 2013. We collected 9,950,000 shoebox gifts worldwide—almost 1 million more than the 2012 total of 9,039,060 and significantly increasing the overall number of Gospel opportunities available as the gifts are distributed.
In the United States we collected 7,541,468 shoeboxes, surpassing the goal of 7.2 million.
The shoebox harvest was made possible by the year-round volunteers who worked tirelessly to spread the word about Operation Christmas Child to more people and churches, the families and individuals who pack the gifts, and the tens of thousands of people who operate collection centers and prepare the shoeboxes for overseas shipment.
More than 58,000 volunteers worked at collection points. In our eight processing centers all over the country, more than 65,000 volunteers worked to inspect and package the gifts to ship overseas.
The millions of gifts collected in 2013 are bringing joy to children living in difficult circumstances all over the world.
In the Philippines, many families were left homeless after Typhoon Haiyan made landfall with 230-mph winds. Operation Christmas Child sent a special airlift of 65,000 shoeboxes filled with toys, hygiene items, school supplies and more to the island of Bantayan where children also learned about Jesus’ love for them.
Please pray that children all over the world will come to know the love of Jesus Christ through the power of 10 million simple gifts.
