Operation Christmas Child Processing Center

Last week, I got to spend several hours inspecting and taping Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes at the processing center in Atlanta!

What a joy!

The Atlanta warehouse/processing center expects to ship over 800,000 boxes, this year. The boxes we helped pack, today, will go to the Ukraine and India. The boxes packed in Atlanta earlier this week are headed to Pakistan. You heard me. There are a total of 7 processing centers in the US.

It was a great experience and actually quite tiring!

(The boxes you can see in the photo have a minimum of 14 shoeboxes within the larger box.)
We inspected the shoeboxes - to make sure there were no liquids (bubbles, hand sanitizer, etc.) and no chocolate or perishable food -and then replaced any empty areas in the box with more toys or pencils or washcloths or shoes. The instructor emphatically stressed that the INTEGRITY of each box was to be maintained - if a person took the time and money to pack a box and pray for a child, then those items were to remain within the box (with the exception of liquids and perishable food). I was glad to hear the guide stress that the boxes should remain AS PACKED.

I was amazed that many of the volunteers, today, were from other states - Louisiana, Montana, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Tennessee, Florida, South Carolina.... and a few others.

The warehouse space is donated. The conveyor belts and tables get shipped back to Charlotte after the packaging is complete, and return to a different warehouse in Atlanta, next year, to pack more boxes.

Quick link/video of Franklin Graham explaining Operation Christmas Child to Dave Ramsey..........
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1534611823?bclid=900701426&bctid=48731902001



And a couple more videos from the Operation Christmas Child website (grab your kleenex)..............