Operation Christmas Child boxes.
CORE Butte FFA has been on a mission this holiday season: Collecting donations for children all around the world.
To bring some joy, CORE Butte FFA teamed up with the California Scholarship Federation (CSF) to collect gifts that will be donated to children in need. To help make this possible, the chapter worked with Operation Christmas Child.
According to Samaritan’s Purse, Operation Christmas Child is a nationally recognized organization that’s purpose is to “demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way” by collecting donations. After being collected, these donations are put into boxes and sent to children in need around the world. These boxes are about the size of a shoe box, which is enough space for all the gifts and essential goods inside them.
CORE Butte FFA and CSF ran the donation drive from Nov. 4-21, 2024. A Christmas tree with gift lists attached to it was set up in the high school lobby to help engage members for this project. Alongside the tree were boxes where people could drop off the donations they collected.
After the time was up for members to bring in donations, the assembling of the boxes started. When packing boxes for Operation Christmas Child, it is important to carefully consider how to organize items because they will be sent to children around the world. So, it is best to keep the boxes’ content general and age neutral.
After the boxes were assembled, they were then taken to their drop-off location, which was the First Baptist Church in Paradise, Cali. Thanks to everyone who put in time and effort, 25 Operation Christmas Child boxes were filled with donations.
CORE Butte FFA also had one final surprise for Operation Christmas Child. Since it costs $10 to ship off each box, the chapter decided to contribute $250 to cover all the shipment costs.
“Operation Christmas Child was very special to me, as it makes such a huge impact on kids across the world,” says CORE Butte FFA member Natalie Reed. “Being able to be a part of something so incredible makes my day and reminds me why we live to serve.”
