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Samaritan’s Purse Fundraiser Hosted by Moving Ahead
Communications Fills Gaps for Children’s Charity
The holiday season is fast
approaching. This means, chief
among other things,
fundraising time for the Samaritan’s
Purse International annual
Operation Christmas Child. And
teaming up with a fundraiser
for them is Moving Ahead
Communications (MAC), an
Ohio-based business support
services company.
“Samaritan’s Purse operates
wonderful emergency relief,
community development,
vocational programs worldwide for
people of all ages,” said
Diana Barnum, freelance writer
and president of MAC. “And
being a mom and teacher, I
particularly like how they
impact the lives of vulnerable
children through their
clothing, educational, feeding and
shelter programs, letting them
know they are not
forgotten.”
Although MAC began 1984,
with the design of
greeting cards in Spanish,
Arabic and Chinese, initial work
began several years earlier,
in 1979. During that year, the
company's founder, Diana
Barnum, was awarded a Teaching
Associate position at The
Ohio State University, Department
of Spanish, where many of
the original concepts and
materials for Moving Ahead
were started. Over the years,
the company has grown to
help companies worldwide with a
variety of business support
services.
To help raise funds and
support Samaritan's Purse/Operation
Christmas Child, MAC will
donate ten percent of all
purchases made through their
Gift-Gallery division online
at: http://www.gift-gallery.us to Operation
Christmas
Child.
“Filling a shoebox is a fun
activity for families, church
groups and other companies
and organizations to do
together,” said Barnum. “You
can set up mini-assembly lines
in your homes and have
Operation Shoebox parties, filling
up boxes with donations
contributed by everyone while
enjoying snacks and
fellowship. Kids also like to join in
and often fill up shoeboxes
on their own with their
allowance and other
Christmas funds they’ve saved.
An area lacking, though, is
money for shipping a lot of these boxes
overseas. And that’s where
we want to help – plus fill gaps
with more shoebox gifts and
shoeboxes (we like to donate
plastic shoe-sized boxes
over traditional cardboard ones so
that children and their
families can use them year-round
for storage).”
Samaritan’s Purse
Samaritan’s Purse
International was created based on the
biblical mandate found in
Luke 10:30-37, describing how the
Samaritan rescued a hurting
man whom others had passed by,
Jesus told His hearers,
"Go and do likewise." The
world-renowned group
Samaritan’s Purse aids the world’s
poor, sick and suffering,
offering food, medicine and
assistance through emergency
relief programs, among them
its holiday flagship
program, Operation Christmas Child.
Operation Christmas Child
Operation Christmas Child
provides gift-filled shoe boxes
for children around the
world. Its overriding purpose is to
help people of all ages be
involved in providing toys and
sharing God’s love to
children around the globe. Operation
Christmas Child purchases
and accepts donations, toys and
other presents that are
placed into shoeboxes and then
shipped around the world.
In 2005, nearly 7.6 million
gift-filled shoeboxes were
created and shipped to
children in over 90 countries.
Recommended gift ideas
included small toys, school
supplies, hygiene items
(toothbrush, toothpaste, mild bar
soap, comb, washcloth), hard
candy, gum, T-shirts, socks,
ball caps; sunglasses, hair
clips, toy jewelry, watches,
flashlights (with extra
batteries). A note to the child
(addressed for a possible
reply from the recipient) and
photo were in some.
Items not allowed in the
shoeboxes included: used or
damaged items; war-related
items such as
toy guns, knives or military
figures; chocolate or food;
liquids or lotions;
medications or vitamins; breakable
items such as snow-globes or
glass containers; aerosol
cans.
How to Participate / Deadline
To participate in the
fundraiser:
- Visit: http://www.gift-gallery.us and place gift orders:
fresh flowers, gourmet
goodies, gift baskets, corporate
gifts and more for all
occasions.
- Bookmark the link, saving
it in your Favorites (or other) folder
- Share the site link with friends, families, co-workers
and others
- Place gift orders early, by November 12,
2006, to meet the
National Collection week
deadline on this end which is
November 13-20, so that
children get their packages in time
for Christmas.
- Return to the site for all
gift-giving occasions year-round
(it’s a fundraiser site
24/7), updated regularly with online specials
For more information on
Moving Ahead Communications and
their fundraising
opportunities, contact them at 3288 Darby
Visit them online and sign
up for their complimentary newsletter
at: http://movingaheadcommunications.com
Free Fun Stuff!
Internet visitors can head
to the Samaritan’s Purse website
and download lots of fun
stuff. There are coloring pages
for children, an assortment
of clip art and more.
For more information and to
download items, contact
Samaritan's Purse/Operation
Christmas Child, 801 Bamboo
Road,
online at: http://www.samaritanspurse.org
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This is brought to you by
the Ohio Help Group, working in
conjunction with Moving
Ahead Communications to help
companies and individuals
with their business services
worldwide. Check out their
complimentary ezines and
downloads, informative blogs and more at their Online
Service Center at http://www.OhioHelpGroup.com