Back to school sales help pack more boxes!

U.S. Families Do Their Part to Reach Global Goal of Helping 9 Million Children in 2012 and More than 100 Million Since 1993

BOONE, N.C. , Aug. 6, 2012—There are tens of millions of children in developing countries who have never attended school. (Source: UNICEF) While a number of factors contribute to a lack of education among children in developing nations, one key component is access to basic school supplies. 
However, this back-to-school season, U.S. parents, kids and teens are looking beyond their own school supply lists and making a difference in the lives of needy kids overseas.  By maximizing back-to-school sales, U.S. families are stocking up on items for Operation Christmas Child, a year-round project of international Christian relief and evangelism organization Samaritan's Purse, headed by Franklin Graham.  Participants fill shoe boxes with school materials, toys, necessity items, and letters of encouragement for children in poverty around the world. 
This shoe box packing effort, requiring months of organization and preparation, is expected to bless more than 9 million children this year suffering the effects of natural disaster, disease, war, terrorism, famine and poverty. In 2012 Operation Christmas Child anticipates reaching a milestone-collecting and delivering shoe boxes to more than 100 million children since the project began in 1993.  Through the power of a simple gift and the message of hope through Jesus Christ, children learn they are loved and not forgotten.  For many of these children, the shoe box will be the first gift they have ever received.