Shoe Box Drop Off ... and Filler Items

So yesterday was the last day of the official collection week for Operation Christmas Child. Kate and I spent the morning signing cards and putting them (along with a couple of pictures) in each shoe box ... and then securing it with a rubber band. (Well, she helped me a little bit.) We finished just in the nick of time to get the boxes over to The Church of The Apostles. Tanna and I used to attend this church, and I was so excited to see that it was a drop-off point this year.

Here are a few photos we took yesterday morning:


Took this one with the timer. I wore an OCC shirt. I already had it on when I went to get Kate up. When she saw it, she pointed and said, "Christmas Child." So sweet.


Dropping off our boxes at COTA. It is so special to me to share this wonderful project with our little girl. I can't wait until next year when she will have a better grasp of the concept.
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Now ... about filler items ... You know how when you are filling your boxes you always seem to end up with a few leftovers? These are random things that would not fit in your bulging-at-the-seams boxes ... and yet you don't really have enough items (or a enough of a variety of items) that would make a complete box. Well, these things can be dropped off at your local collection site as well--because they can be used as filler items at the OCC processing centers. (At the processing centers, shoe boxes are inspected for inappropriate items by volunteers. Any inappropriate items are removed, and boxes that aren't as full as they could be are filled up using donated filler items. However, please know that items are never taken from one box to put into another. Also, inappropriate items that are removed are donated to local charities.)

Yesterday morning, I was in such a hurry to get our boxes delivered to the drop-off site by noon that I did not have time to clean up and pack up our leftover items that were strewn about the playroom. (Kate's playroom has served as our shoe box-packing headquarters the last few weeks, and it has been a mess.) First Baptist Atlanta served as a collection center this year, and they were taking boxes until 9 last night. So yesterday evening, I got our filler items packed up and headed out to make another drop. There's a photo of a tote of stuff above.



During the last month or so, I had been thinking about some toys and toothbrushes I could have sworn I'd bought for shoe boxes this year. You see, I buy things all year long for OCC and stash them away in various places until it is packing time. I do have to be creative with my stashing due to our limited living space. Anyway, I specifically remembered getting some toothbrushes at Walgreens for pennies on the dollar. And I remembered buying some cute wooden trains and planes and things for only a quarter each at the Target dollar spot.



I looked everywhere for these goodies--even in our storage room, which is in a separate room in our building--but to no avail. I figured I must have bought these last year and just had my years mixed up. But late Sunday night, I was looking in our hall closet for something else when I spied a box on the top shelf that I had previously seen and neglected to investigate. I thought it had other contents, but I was wrong! It was the shoe box items I'd been looking for--plus some fun Hello Kitty gifts (also quarter deals from the Target dollar section) I'd practically forgotten about. Thank You, Lord, for letting me find these in time to turn them in this year. Yay for filler items!