Operation Christmas Child
Great Lengths. Great Effort. One Goal.
At Crossroads, we are proud to partner with Operation Christmas Child to bring the hope of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. From dense jungles to remote islands, these gift-filled shoeboxes are more than just presents—they are tangible expressions of God’s love.
Every box delivered is an opportunity for a child to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ, often in places where His name has never been heard.
How You Can Get Involved
There are many ways to be part of this “Great Effort” at Crossroads with year round activities and events:
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Pack a Shoebox: Fill a box with toys, school supplies, and hygiene items for a boy or girl.
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Monthly Collections: Help us by donating our “Items of the Month” as we gather supplies year-round.
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Community Packing Party: Join the fun! We gather as a church family to fill hundreds of boxes together.
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Collection Week Support: Crossroads serves as a Regional Collection Center. We welcome other area churches as they drop off their boxes and help coordinate the shipping process.
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OCC Prayer Team: Join our dedicated team in praying for the children, the families, and the logistics of every box sent.
“We go to great lengths to take these boxes to children in the most remote parts of the world because we want them to know that God loves them.” — Franklin Graham
Ready to serve?
If you’re interested in joining the team or have questions about how to get started, we’d love to hear from you!
Contact: Jennie Nichols
OCC PRAYER GROUP
Currently meeting on the 2nd Wednesday of every month for an hour, 11AM-12PM at Crossroads. We pray specifically for our local OCC area team, the domestic and international OCC staff, our OCC ministry partners in the receiving countries and the millions of shoebox recipients. We would love to have you join us!
Community OCC Packing Party | November 8, 2026 | 2-5 PM
Join us on Sunday, November 8, from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM as we come together for our annual Operation Christmas Child Packing Party! Throughout the year, our church has been collecting toys, school supplies, and personal care items—now, we need the community’s help to pack them all up. Our goal is to pack 850 shoeboxes!
How It Works
This is an open-house style event, so feel free to drop in whenever you can and stay as long as you like. Packing is simple and fun for all ages:
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Grab a Box & Pick an Age: Choose whether you’d like to pack for a boy or girl in a specific age category.
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Pack Your Gifts: Walk through our inventory stations to select toys, school supplies, and hygiene items to fill your box.
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Write a Note: Add a personal note or prayer for the child who will receive your gift.
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Hand It Off: Pass your completed shoebox to our team to be stacked and prepped for National Collection Week.
Cost & Donations
There is no cost to attend—we mostly just need your hands and hearts to reach our 850-box goal!
If you would like to help cover shipping, donations are warmly welcomed. It costs $10 to ship each shoebox, and checks can be made payable directly to Samaritan’s Purse.
Come be a part of bringing joy and hope to children around the world!
National Collection Week | Nov. 16–23, 2026
National Collection Week: Serve with Crossroads!
National Collection Week (Nov. 16–23, 2026) takes place when 5,000 temporary drop-off locations open across the United States and Puerto Rico to receive packed shoebox gifts. Crossroads is proud to serve as one of these official drop-off sites!
Each shoebox is filled with quality toys, school supplies, and personal care items for children in need around the world. As these gifts arrive, volunteers gather to collect, pray over, and load them for transport. Afterward, the boxes travel to processing centers before being shipped globally through Samaritan’s Purse.
What Serving Looks Like
Serving during National Collection Week is a true team effort and a fantastic hands-on opportunity for the whole family! Roles include:
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Receiving & Unloading: Greeting donors and unloading shoeboxes from vehicles, carts, or pallets.
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Packing & Preparing: Securing each shoebox with a rubber band and packing them into master shipping cartons.
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Staging & Loading: Moving and staging filled cartons to load directly onto the semi-truck.
Our Crossroads family shows up for this mission like nothing you’ve ever seen—it is wonderful to watch our church family in action!
Serving & Drop-Off Hours
| Day | Date | Hours |
| Monday | Nov. 16 | 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM |
| Tuesday | Nov. 17 | 4:00 PM – 6:30 PM |
| Wednesday | Nov. 18 | 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM |
| Thursday | Nov. 19 | 4:00 PM – 6:30 PM |
| Friday | Nov. 20 | 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM |
| Saturday | Nov. 21 | 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM |
| Sunday | Nov. 22 | 4:00 PM – 6:30 PM |
| Monday | Nov. 23 | 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM |
2026 Calendar of Events
Alex Nsengimana’s Testimony at Crossway Church in Grand Rapids, We are thrilled to welcome Alex back to West Michigan! Don’t miss this powerful opportunity to hear him share his firsthand testimony of faith and transformation. Location: Crossway Church – 3950 Burton St. SE, Grand Rapids, MI Come hear how a shoebox gift from Operation Christmas Child brought hope to an orphan’s heart and revealed God’s specific plan for is life.
June 16, 2026 – Golf outing at Saskatoon Golf Course in Alto, MI
CLICK HERE FOR INFO AND TO SIGN UP.
OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD 2025!
As we wrap up 2025 we need to share the stats of the impact of Operation Christmas Child!
We collected 10,435 shoeboxes and had over 280 families, churches and groups drop off their shoebox gifts during collection week. 🎁
80+ volunteers helped at our Crossroads drop off and served over 600 hours to get our boxes ready to head to the processing center.
❤️💚❤️
We loaded 4 trailers with a total of 18,728 shoeboxes! 🚚🎁💪📦
The Greater Grand Rapids area OCC team (Kent, Ottawa and Muskegon counties) packed a total of 36,697 shoebox gifts!
🎉🥳🙌🏼 (This doesn’t count the boxes that were built online)
Our boxes are now at the Charlotte processing center and will begin their journey around the world soon! 🌎🙏
Thank you for making a difference with us!
In loving memory of our friend, Dick Charlefour, we’re aiming to include a soccer ball in as many Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes as possible—just as he always did!
A soccer ball costs just $5. Would you consider contributing to purchase one or two before our packing party on November 9th? Donate via the provided PayPal link, or drop off your contribution at the welcome desk. Thank you for helping us honor Dick’s generous spirit!
