Operation Christmas Child

ICH­THYS Foun­da­tion coor­di­na­tes the pro­ject cal­led Gwiazd­ko­wa Nie­spo­dzian­ka. This a part of the worl­dwi­de mis­sion Ope­ra­tion Chri­st­mas Child, run by the cha­ri­ty Samaritan’s Pur­se from the USA. Acti­vi­ties within the pro­ject inc­lu­de pre­pa­ring gifts for chil­dren (aro­und 10 mil­lion each year) and sen­ding them to 124 coun­tries, inc­lu­ding Poland. In our coun­try, the pro­ject star­ted in 1999. The cam­pa­ign con­si­sts of deli­ve­ring Chri­st­mas gifts to chil­dren, espe­cial­ly tho­se from disa­dvan­ta­ged back­gro­unds. The aim of the cam­pa­ign is to demon­stra­te God’s love during Chri­st­mas. Our part­ner and the coör­di­na­tor of the col­lec­ting of the gifts is the Ger­man asso­cia­tion Geschen­ke der Hof­f­nung e.v. Gifts are also col­lec­ted and pac­ka­ged in our coun­try. Each gift is uni­que and is pre­pa­red by a child, adult or the who­le fami­ly. Pac­ka­ges are distri­bu­ted either during spe­cial events or direc­tly to the child’s home.

ICH­THYS Foun­da­tion has been invo­lved in col­lec­ting and distri­bu­ting the gifts sin­ce 2003. Sin­ce then, with the help of ine­xpen­si­ve but stra­te­gi­cal­ly given gifts, we have been able to sha­re God’s love with tho­usands of chil­dren in Poland.