OCA Office of Humanitarian Aid to sponsor annual Christmas Stocking Project

Your contribution to the OCA Office of Humanitarian Aid’s Christmas Stocking Project will bring special joy to needy children.

SYOSSET, NY [OCA Communications] — For the 13th consecutive year, the Orthodox Church in America’s Office of Humanitarian Aid is conducting the Christmas Stocking Project to bring special joy at Christmas to thousands of needy children in eastern Europe and Mexico.

“In 2005, we distributed 15,000 filled stockings or equivalent gifts in these areas and an additional 1,000 gifts to families victimized by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the US,” said Mrs. Arlene Kallaur, project coordinator. “Thank you letters, some from the children themselves, and distribution reports were received, telling and showing the delight that the gifts brought the recipients.”

Mrs. Kallaur added that a well-executed report from Diakonia Agapes, the social services agency of the Orthodox Church of Albania, describes the situation of the families to whom they bought and distributed the gifts with Christmas Stocking Project funds.

“The families of these children do not have the minimum standard of living,” the report reads. “Their families cannot buy toys or sweets for Christmas and New Year. Many state institutions, orphanages, nursery schools, and development centers have the same limitations. The presents provided by the Orthodox Church in America helped us to give many the joy of the holiday season.”

Church schools, FOCA chapters, and youth groups are again invited to raise funds for this year’s project.

The Cerebral Palsy workers of Roosevelt, NY also stand ready to assemble and stuff the stockings, as in past years, according to Mrs. Kallaur.

Each stocking or equivalent gift costs $5.00.

“Donations, large and small, will be gratefully received through the end of the year,” Mrs. Kallaur said.

Please send checks made payable to The Orthodox Church in America to the OCA Christmas Stocking Project, c/o Arlene Kallaur, PO Box 675, Syosset, NY 11791.

Archpastoral message of Metropolitan Herman for the 2006 Christmas Stocking Project

Downloadable Christmas Stocking Project flyer (PDF)

Photo gallery of the 2005 Christmas Stocking Project recipients and fund-raisers