As I said in my update letter and blog entry on Kongoussi, I learned a lot about what to do and what not to do for the OCC boxes. It's an awesome ministry that can give kids not only simple gifts, but the message of Jesus' love for them! What a powerful example of His love that complete strangers would want to give ME a box!
Here are a few suggestions and things I learned (I'll blog again closer to the time to fill boxes to remind you of these things, as well as when they need to be ready by) Hope it helps!
-They are always short on boy boxes!! Fill some boy boxes! There is also an abundance of boxes for the middle age group. The older ages (10-14) are filled the least- I don’t really know why, but I guess people find them more difficult.
-The plastic Rubbermaid containers are great for packing things in- they can be used by the kids in so many other ways. It’s just real important though to make sure it is a similar size to the shoeboxes used by OCC because they can’t fit as many into the giant cardboard boxes for shipping if the containers are bigger than the normal shoebox size (which increases costs for OCC).
-Even though it’s real fun to do the box VERY boy or VERY girl, it’s also great to do it a bit more unisex too. It’s funny how a stuffed animal means just as much to a boy as a girl, or how “girl and boy” colors are not as true here.
Other great ideas:
-Kleenex packets
-Cross necklaces
-Some hard candy (candy bracelets and necklaces are fun)
-Blow up balls (great if you can find one kind of like a globe!)
-Chapstick-Stuffed animals-Legos (all kids like!)
-Things that say “Jesus loves you(me)”
-School supplies (if pencils, the refillable led kind with refills are great, or at least a sharpener for normal pencils)
-Maybe a small Nalgene type of water bottle if you can fit it with different things stuffed inside (especially in hot places, it’s great for bringing water to school as they of course don’t have the water fountains like our schools)
-Flashlights are really great and useful!
----- Kind of difficult though because I really won’t suggest toys with batteries. It’s a little better if you put a toy in that requires batteries if you put extra batteries in also, but eventually the batteries will run out and they most likely cannot find more (or are expensive).
-I want to say that putting in toys that are very self-explanatory are great, but it’s hard to tell what that means. We might think a slinky is self explanatory, but often the things we think are easy, are not… But still, if you think that a toy might be difficult to explain or understand how it’s used, chances are the child will have no idea how to use it
-A picture and letter are always really exciting. We tried to catch as many of them as we could so that we could translate them and even take a picture to send to the family that sent the box (though very rare for this to happen). Most times the kids can’t write back due to postage and other issues, but it makes it a little more personal. A REALLY great idea was that we saw a letter that someone had written in English, French, and Spanish because of course we don’t know where the boxes will end up.
-It’s interesting how many people still put in liquids, chocolates, army type of toys, and other items that are on the “no” list. They have to take time to take these out of boxes at the distribution centers and try to fill the empty spots with other donated things, so if it says “no,” please try to respect that!
Here are a few suggestions and things I learned (I'll blog again closer to the time to fill boxes to remind you of these things, as well as when they need to be ready by) Hope it helps!
-They are always short on boy boxes!! Fill some boy boxes! There is also an abundance of boxes for the middle age group. The older ages (10-14) are filled the least- I don’t really know why, but I guess people find them more difficult.
-The plastic Rubbermaid containers are great for packing things in- they can be used by the kids in so many other ways. It’s just real important though to make sure it is a similar size to the shoeboxes used by OCC because they can’t fit as many into the giant cardboard boxes for shipping if the containers are bigger than the normal shoebox size (which increases costs for OCC).
-Even though it’s real fun to do the box VERY boy or VERY girl, it’s also great to do it a bit more unisex too. It’s funny how a stuffed animal means just as much to a boy as a girl, or how “girl and boy” colors are not as true here.
Other great ideas:
-Kleenex packets
-Cross necklaces
-Some hard candy (candy bracelets and necklaces are fun)
-Blow up balls (great if you can find one kind of like a globe!)
-Chapstick-Stuffed animals-Legos (all kids like!)
-Things that say “Jesus loves you(me)”
-School supplies (if pencils, the refillable led kind with refills are great, or at least a sharpener for normal pencils)
-Maybe a small Nalgene type of water bottle if you can fit it with different things stuffed inside (especially in hot places, it’s great for bringing water to school as they of course don’t have the water fountains like our schools)
-Flashlights are really great and useful!
----- Kind of difficult though because I really won’t suggest toys with batteries. It’s a little better if you put a toy in that requires batteries if you put extra batteries in also, but eventually the batteries will run out and they most likely cannot find more (or are expensive).
-I want to say that putting in toys that are very self-explanatory are great, but it’s hard to tell what that means. We might think a slinky is self explanatory, but often the things we think are easy, are not… But still, if you think that a toy might be difficult to explain or understand how it’s used, chances are the child will have no idea how to use it
-A picture and letter are always really exciting. We tried to catch as many of them as we could so that we could translate them and even take a picture to send to the family that sent the box (though very rare for this to happen). Most times the kids can’t write back due to postage and other issues, but it makes it a little more personal. A REALLY great idea was that we saw a letter that someone had written in English, French, and Spanish because of course we don’t know where the boxes will end up.
-It’s interesting how many people still put in liquids, chocolates, army type of toys, and other items that are on the “no” list. They have to take time to take these out of boxes at the distribution centers and try to fill the empty spots with other donated things, so if it says “no,” please try to respect that!
1 comment:
Thanks for the GREAT tips, Liz!
I can't wait to show the kids the pictures of "our" OCC boxes being delivered!
Meagan Kempf
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