Friday, December 4, 2009

Ole Miss Holiday Charities

This is one of the many logos for Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child. The logo tells you what the charity is about: flying shoe boxes with gifts to less fortunate children.
This is a photo of the lyceum during the Christmas season.

The University of Mississippi is known for many prestigious accolades as such as the safest school in the SEC and the former #4 football team in the SEC, but Ole Miss is not all about receiving. It occurs throughtout the entire year, but during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, many organizations on campus really come together in an effort to help out and give back to the community. Operation Christmas Child and Adopt-a-Basket are two of the thriving charities on campus. Operation Christmas Child's history dates back to 1970. It was founded by Bob Pierce who led a ministry called Samaritan's Purse in Korea. With this charity project, individuals are encouraged to donate shoe boxes with toys for boys and girls in different age groups. The age groups are: 2-4, 5-9, and 10-14. Samaritan's Purse has many other programs in place to help less fortunate individuals in other countries. The ministry has a relief and development project, HIV/AIDS Prescription for Hope, and a Sudan Church Rebuilding Project. This ministry has expanded and now has locations in all parts of the world: Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Hong Kong. This Operation Christmas Child can also be found working in partnership with students on various college campuses.





The Adopt-a-Basket charity is a project that was established in 2004 by a fellow faculty member, Valerie Ross, who works for the Dean of Students. With this charity, people are just asked to donate food and help pack the food in boxes. After the boxes are complete, they are shipped out to families in the community before Thanksgiving. As Mrs. Ross stated and through observation, many people came out to volunteer and donate food. At any given time there can be over 20-30 volunteers.





And even if one feels that they cannot afford to package gifts for Operation Christmas Child or have the time to volunteer, they are encouraged to donate to the Oxford Pantry at any time, not just during the holidays.


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