[INSERT_ELEMENTOR id=”1905″] Butin Integrated Communications recently answered the call for volunteers to help pack shoeboxes with gifts and process them for children in need in other parts of the world. Through Operation Christmas Child, our Charlotte, North Carolina, office staff spent a day volunteering. The country’s largest OCC processing center is located locally in South Charlotte. “Our volunteer day was so rewarding. It’s a great feeling when you’re able to give back to an organization that not only helps children locally but also around the country and internationally,” noted Butin associate Jade Quatro. “At this time of year, it’s wonderful to see the community come together and help spread the holiday spirit far and wide.”

About Operation Christmas Child

Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian relief organization that got its start in Charlotte. The world’s largest Christmas project of its kind, OCC collects shoeboxes filled with toys, sanitary products, clothes, school supplies and much more from people across the country seeking to lend a helping hand. Since 1993, the organization has collected and delivered more than 168 million shoeboxes to children in over 160 countries. There are eight OCC processing centers in the U.S. – in Atlanta; the Baltimore-Washington area; Boone, North Carolina (where Samaritan’s Purse headquarters are located); Charlotte; Chicago; Dallas-Fort Worth; Denver; and Orange County, California. In Charlotte’s processing center, more than 30,000 volunteers come to work the assembly line and send off the shoeboxes. During Butin’s day of volunteering, hundreds of thousands of boxes were processed and shipped out to Madagascar and Zimbabwe. “This is our fourth year volunteering with Operation Christmas Child and each year somehow becomes more special than the last,” said Butin Director of Accounts Kelly Marolt. “As a family-owned, faith-based small business, it is important we take the time as an agency to give back and help others. Volunteerism is just one of the ways we try to make an impact in our local communities and it’s something we very much enjoy doing together as a team.”

How You Can Help

If your city doesn’t have an Operation Christmas Child processing center, you can still contribute to the cause. Donors anywhere in the United States can build shoeboxes online for actual delivery to children in need. For details, visit Samaritan’s Purse. You’ll find more news about Butin here in the Agency News section of our blog.