Done

I can finally say I am done and ready for collection week!

Tonight my 6 year old son and I added the final items to each box; candy, a note and a picture. It was great to open each box one last time, and pray for each child receiving the box. And since I had the boxes open I (finally) took a few pictures of some of the boxes, which I will share over the next few days.

I was thankful my son was helping me.  Thankful that we can do this together. I loved his prespective. I loved how with each box, my son said oh they are going to be so blessed with ________. The cute brown dog stuffed animal, or the red car.   Something different caught his eye in every box.  And it made me wonder what will be the item for the precious child receiving the box. 

Here is one of my favorite boxes.  I love how God placed strawberry shortcake items in my path through out the year.  And I ended up with this great box.  It's hard to see but the headbands has strawberries on it too!

Do you have a favorite box you packed this year?

Why not post pictures on our facebook page.  We'd love to see it!

Packing Tip

Next week is Collection Week!

Time to Pack Your Boxes!

When packing shoes and water bottles, they can take up a lot of valuable space. Why not fill them with other items, enabling you to pack more in your boxes!

Val

Through OCC I have met a lot of amazing, inspiring people!

I was recently introduced to Val.  She is doing amazing things in her 900 square foot home in Ottawa Ontario.  Here is her story...

I have been packing boxes for 14 years. I saw the video at my church and did 2 that year!! Having gone on a mission trip with OCC and saw the great need I feel God touched my heart to do more boxes!! I have filled over 12000 since I started I am 69 years old and work full time just to pay for the boxes. I shop for bargains all the time. After every occasion I check to see how much is left at 50 per cent off if they have a lot I wait till its 75 per cent off if not I will buy. I never pay full price.
I never pay full price. I always put school supplies in for the older children I always give soap, hard candy toys hair stuff coloring book crayons stuffed animal puppets hats sunglasses whistles puzzles t-shirt socks underwear cars dolls jewelry marbles beads toy animals play dough yoyo I like to give a good variety of things I want the!m to see their box and say wow somebody sure loves me!

 I have a senior friend(older than me) that knits and crochets the blankets (pictured above) for me I just give her the wool and she does the rest. What a blessing she is!!! I pack the boxes starting as soon as they leave in November. It is very time consuming as we pray for each box as we do I work on them every day. It gets a little crowded in my home at this time of year,as our home is only 900 sq ft. Our basement is quite full right now. 

They made this video a few years ago, called Emily's Hope.

Thank you Val for sharing your story, and more importantly spending your time, energy and resources spreading God's love!

What an amazing morning!! Despite freezing rain and a bit of snow this weekend, the huge storm they predicted didn't happen. The roads weren't great but most of our Sunday School Kids were able to make it out. We were aiming for 250 boxes and God multiplied and we packed 350 boxes! How Great is our God! A longer blog post will follow later this week, once I get pictures back from our photographer.

Add a note and picture

It is a great to include a personal note and picture. 

It is fun to write to the child, telling them a bit about you and your family, how special they are and how God loves them.  And don't forget to add a picture of yourself/family.

If you have kids you can download the About Me papers from here. And have them fill out the paper and there is a spot for a picture on the paper.

If you are packing a lot of boxes, or are just running out of time.

You can always combine the two.

Here is the card that we are adding to our boxes.

This one could be used for either gender.

And this one for the girls.

You can find the cards here.

Favorite Stores

Do you have regular stores that you visit to buy your OCC items?
Here are a few of mine.

Michaels-
They always have great items for $1.50-$2.00 and if you hit the right time, you can find great clearance items up to 80% off.
I was there on Saturday and they had tons of items that would make great theme boxes, Hello Kity, Mickey Mouse, pencils, erasers, notebooks, crayons, etc.
You can also sign up for their email coupons.   They often have 50% off one item.

Dollar Stores
Great for pretty much all items you can think of putting into a box.
Hygiene, School Supplies, Toys, Stuffed Animals, etc.

Party Stores
Again great items if you're going to do theme boxes or just want to add something extra special
They often have packs of items, making them less expensive.

Box Stores- Superstore, Walmart
Great end of season clearance on clothing and toys.
School supplies in August. (often they are cheaper than the dollar store at this time of year)
And Candy after halloween.

Old Navy-
The odd time you can find clear out clothing for .97 cents. ( my mom is great at finding these.  You just need to take time to search)
And the .25 cent balls from the ball vending machine.  One of my favorite buys!

Do you have favorite stores that you like to check in on to pick up supplies?

Thanks to Gina for posting this...
We found a great deal @ Ardene's. Surprise bags are 2 for $5. They contain hair accessories and jewelery, etc. Got tonnes of great stuff for girls in each one!

If you are looking for girls 10-14 sandals, they have 5 pairs for $10.00. They had a lot of selection!

Anyone have any other deals they've found?