Operation Christmas Child (OCC) is an important worldwide ministry of Samaritan's Purse in which Lake Tulloch Bible Church actively participates. LTBC has a team working on a new plan for filling shoe boxes for OCC. Each month starting in April, we will collect items in categories and based on Age Groups.  We are setting up a table in the Fellowship Hall with bins to drop the donations in.  Suggested gifts are listed below and will also be available at the table.  Each  month, there will be a new category and a new list of suggested gifts.   At the end of October, we will set up all of the donated items and have a packing party.  We are excited to see how well we can do when we work together as a church to spread the gospel through this program.

OCC 2025

Carole Pisio and Debby Hill have been year-round-connect volunteers for Operation Christmas Child (OCC) for ten years and LTBC has been a Drop off Center.  Because only 3 churches delivered the individual boxes to us, they handled the collection and processing by themselves.
In 2024 two things happened.  First, LTBC became a Central Drop off Center.  This meant that not only did we collect individual boxes from more churches, we also received filled shipping cartons from other Drop Off Centers in the Central Sierra Team (from Amador, Calaveras and Tuolumne Counties). 
Second, for the first time in many years, the LTBC church family became engaged in collecting items to fill shoeboxes.  We were able to collect enough items to fill 149 boxes.  Others in the church chose to fill their own boxes so that the total from our church was 313 boxes.   In addition, we had enough cash donations to pay for all the shipping costs.
The combination of the church family donations, plus the volunteer help with the packing party and during collection week was energizing to us and made the whole process a lot of fun.  We received a lot of feedback about how fun it was for others.
So, starting March 2, 2025, we will start collecting again and have set a goal to fill 200 boxes.  This means buying in bulk.  While there are basic items that will go into every box, we also need to consider buying in quantity items based on gender (male/female) and age groups (2-4, 5-9 and 10-14). 
We will start with Personal Care items.  Copies of suggested items and places to buy in bulk will be available at the OCC table in the social hall, that information is also available at the end of this email.
As a side note, OCC has been in operation since 1993.  Last year (2024) was the most successful year in the history of the program.  11,927.439 boxes were collected from the eleven countries that collect boxes.  Of that amount, 10.574,.805 boxes came from the United States.  So, almost 12 million gospel opportunities will be sent out to children in 170 countries.  This is a powerful way to serve God!!!

We thank you again for your past participation and pray for a successful 2025.

Debby Hill
Carole Pisio

March 31, 2025 Announcement

To our Church Family,
Last year was our first year collecting as a church, and each month we set out a list of suggested items by category:  Hygiene and Personal Care, Clothing and Accessories, Toys, Games & Activities, School Supplies and WOW items.  Although the response was good for the basics that we include in every box (personal care and school supplies), we came up short on additional items for age and gender specific items.  As a result, we didn’t reach our goal to fill 200 boxes.
So, this year we are trying something a little different.  For the month of April, our list will focus on items for boys and girls ages 2 to 4.  The list has suggestions in each of the categories but the idea is to purchase items that are geared for that age group/gender.  Two bins will be on our table, one for boy items and one for girl items. 
In May and June, we will have a similar list for boy/girl 5 to 9 and 10 to 14 respectively.  We will save the School Supplies category for July/Aug when the best sales take place.
For those of you who want to participate but hate to shop, we will have a donation jar on the table and volunteers on our team will do the shopping for you.  Funds left over, will go towards the shipping costs ($10/shoebox).  Any checks should be made out to LTBC with a reference in the notes “OCC Shoeboxes”.

We are grateful to all of you for your enthusiasm and your generosity.