Operation Christmas Program
OCP is a program specifically for children impacted by natural disasters. We collect information from the survivors we help during the year. At the end of the year, we circle back and ask them for specific information about their children. We ask the parents to tell us about 2 needs and 2 wants that they lost due to a disaster that still haven’t been replaced. These needs and wants will then be gifted to the kids at Christmas. These types of items range from their favorite blanket that grandma made for them to their favorite Spiderman figurine or a new set of snow gear to Frozen themed bed spread. These are very specific items that are to replace items that were lost due to a flood, fire, hurricane, or other disaster.
We need help to run this program! We need people willing to fundraise for the purchase of new items, volunteers to create replicas of lost mementos, and Santa Helpers to assist us with distribution. If any of these areas interest you, please contact us so we can grow this program.
Kids School Supplies Program
We have a group of amazing volunteers that create small cloth masks to give out to kids. From a practicality standpoint, it became very clear last year that masks are a necessary evil for us to move forward as a society. Children need to be in schools and socialize with their peers in order to be successful in adulthood. The government has mandated masks as a requirement for this so we decided this would be a need that we would address.
We have also provide school supplies to families that have been affected by a disaster and were unable to get what they needed through any other programs. We do not want to double up when resources are available through other avenues, but if all other avenues have been exhausted we will help!
Previous Programs
Kids Immediate Dinner Solutions
In March, Covid-19 began impacting our communities and by April our children and the economy was suffering. We flash launched a new program called KIDS. Kids Immediate Dinner Solutions. We collected donations to pay our local restaurants. The restaurants provided dinners for kids in the Union County Community at no cost to them. Many teachers and other community leaders that worked with the children of this community volunteered to deliver the meals to these children if they were unable to pick them up. This program was created with the intent of lasting 4 weeks. Just long enough to give the restaurant Owners a minor reprieve and provide much needed meals to the children in this community. 4 weeks in, we had donations coming in from all over the community and our officials expanding the covid-19 restrictions, so we decided that we would continue the program for as long as God provided the funding for it.
9 Weeks, 524 Children, and well over 3000 meals later, we finished the program. A special thank you goes out to the La Grande McDonalds for donating all of the milk for the entire duration of the program! Bud Jacksons, Cinco De Mayo, Cowboys and Angels, Dusty Spur Café, Local Harvest, Mamacita’s International Grill, North Powder Café, Raul’s Taqueria, Side A Brewing, Thai Fresh Gardens, and Timbers Feedery for partnering with us to make this happen.