SA Operation Christmas Child

Gift filled boxes are being packed and shipped by volunteers in the ConchoValley as part of Operations Christmas Child.  Lauren Blackwell has more.

Each year millions of children in third world countries receive a shoebox filled with Christmas gifts.  For some it is the first gift they have ever received.  Churches and groups around the country pack the boxes weeks before Christmas as part of the "Operation Christmas Child" organization.  "This is such a simple concept and it's something that people from every different denomination can get behind of caring for children around the world."  The packages are used to spread love and joy to less fortunate children around the world....but the children are also blessed with another gift in their Christmas boxes.  "I feel that as Christians we need to help others and this is a way that we can certainly help others. Not only that, when this box is given to the child they are also given a booklet that tells them the love of Jesus.  And then that way they get to know that there is someone else who loves them."   Chris Sloan is the head of school at Ambleside in San Angelo and knows how blessed we are in our country.  So for years he has gotten his students and faculty to help donate and pack boxes.   "One of the things I think in the United States, we have an abundance.  And we typically live in affluence here in the United States.  What I want the students to get out of this is they are getting the opportunity to give to people who have really nothing."  Though what may seem small and simple to someone in the US volunteers know the impact they are making on young lives around the world.  "It's a way to be a missionary without ever leaving home."  Lauren Blackwell, KLST News.