School supply shopping is a ritual for many heading back to school. Amid shopping sprees, kids and parents in Buckhead are looking beyond their own needs and considering the difference a pencil or pen would make in the lives of needy children overseas.
For many poverty-stricken children, often a lack of basic supplies is what stands between them and attending school. By maximizing back-to-school sales, Buckhead families are stocking up on school supplies for Operation Christmas Child—a massive year-round project in which volunteers pack shoeboxes with toys, school supplies, hygiene items and notes of encouragement for children in poverty across the globe.
"One of my favorite "hobbies" is looking for bargains for OCC all year long, " says Joan Friedman, an Operation Christmas Child volunteer who lives in Buckhead. "When I find an especially good deal I don't even consider how many I will need for my own boxes but buy as much as I can because they are always needed at packing parties or at the distribution center as fillers."
