Donating Awana Shares through matching program for Operation Christmas Child

At every Awana meeting, clubbers will be awarded with different numbers of Awana Shares for their excellent performance in learning and in games. Each clubber may be rewarded no more than 2 Awana Shares in each meeting. Every 5 weeks, the clubbers will have an opportunity to redeem their Awana Shares for little gifts at the Awana Store. Our first Awana Store will be opened this coming Friday. Yet in order to encourage giving to bless others, we will also provide opportunities for the clubbers to "donate" their Awana Shares for charity.

In October, as Westside Baptist Church is promoting Operation Christmas Child (OCC), we will also support OCC at Awana. Operation Christmas Child (OCC) brings joy and hope to children in desperate situations around the world through gift-filled shoe boxes and the message of God’s unconditional love. Operation Christmas Child was started in 1990 by Dave Cooke, a Welshman who felt moved to deliver gifts to Romanian orphans after seeing their living circumstances on television. In 1993, Operation Christmas Child grew and was adopted by Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian organization run by Franklin Graham. To date, Operation Christmas Child has collected and distributed over 94 million shoe box gifts worldwide. Each shoe box gift is filled with hygiene items, school supplies, toys, and candy, is given to children regardless of gender, race, religion, or age. You can find more information about OCC at http://www.samaritanspurse.ca/Operation-Christmas-Child.

This Friday at Awana Store, we will encourage the clubbers to donate their Awana Shares to fill OCC shoeboxes. For each Awana Share donated, a pre-arranged donor will give $10 towards purchasing supplies for filling OCC shoeboxes. We hope to raise $300 to buy supplies for shoeboxes. Then in a meeting in November we will let the clubbers help pack the shoeboxes. I hope that parents can help explain the concept of this matching program to children at home, and encourage them to donate some or all of their Awana Shares instead of just getting gifts for themselves.

If you have any question, please do not hesitate to contact Pastor Alan. Thank you very much.