Spread the Spirit of Christmas... "Adopt" a military family through Operation Christmas Spirit​

The best way to spread Christmas JOY, is helping a military girl or BOY!
Okay, so we're not poets, but we do know a lot about spreading the Spirit of Christmas through our Operation Christmas Spirit!

Please read the information below and, if committed, fill out the registration form at the bottom of this page to sign up to adopt a military family this Christmas. 
We still have families waiting and could use your help!!!! 


Important information about Operation Christmas Spirit "Adoptions:" 

Where are the families Operation Christmas Spirit serves?
We serve families all over the country.
We start with unit nominated families in our "hub" regions of :
  • Southern California (Camp Pendleton, Miramar, and 29 Palms)
  • DC Metro Area (Quantico and Fort Belvoir)
  • Camp Lejeune, NC 
  • San Antonio, TX (Fort Sam Houston and Lackland AFB)
  • Colorado Springs/Denver, Co (Fort Carson, I&I Aurora and Peterson AFB)
  • Tampa,  FL
  • Fort Drum, NY
  • Yuma, AZ  
Then we work our way through applications for assistance for families all over the country.

What are the requirements to "adopt" a military family? 
We try to provide the following for every family we serve: 
  • A minimum of 3 gifts per child (many do more but this is our baseline)
  • A minimum of 2 gifts per adult (We sent more information about DOD restrictions for giving to service members in each family.)
  • Gift cards for groceries, gas, household goods, and clothing to give families the opportunity to do shopping of their own.
    • Our goal is a minimum of $200 in gift cards per family, more for larger families. 
 In addition to the above goals for each family:
  • We also recommend: A family gift to enjoy together, or for those dealing with deployment, a gift to help family members at home pass the time or enjoy when reunited. Things like movie passes, gift certificates for photo sessions, care package goodies, Christmas movies, etc. are fun ideas to add to your efforts. 
  • We do have families who are in need of bigger items-- especially this year with the aftermath of Florence in NC . If you are interested in adopting a family with a larger need, like furniture, help with bills, etc., please select that option on your registration form. 
We understand that this is asking a lot of donors. Because of this, we also pair up donors to jointly adopt families if interested. In the form below you can also opt to:
  • Provide gifts only (no gift cards)
  • Provide gift cards only (no gifts)
  • Donate online toward a family's wish list
​When will I receive my wish list(s)? 
Sign up to "adopt" a family  by November 8th and you'll receive your wish list(s)  on November 15th. Starting November 9th, please allow up to 7 days from the time you confirm to allow time for us to pull more families off of our wait list.  DUE TO CURRENT VOLUME OF REQUESTS, NEW WISH LISTS WILL NOT GO OUT UNTIL NEXT WEEK.  No wish lists will be sent out November 21st-24th as we (an all volunteer organization) take time to spend Thanksgiving with our own military families.

Once we send you a wish list, we give you 2 days to respond and accept the challenge of blessing the family it represents or to give us further guidance to help us find you the right fit.  We want this experience to bless you and yours too! 

How do I get my gifts to families? 
For donors in our "hub" regions:
  • Each of our hub regions will have gift drop off options for donors able to drop off gifts. These drop off events will take place between December 10-18th, depending on your location. 
  • Our OHH Volunteers are there to collect up your donations, wrap them if needed, and process donation receipts for you/ your group. 
  • We do NOT arrange face to face exchange of gifts to make the experience as comfortable as possible for families. We DO give those adopting families priority to volunteer at gift pick up events. 
For donors out of our "hub" regions:
  • Donors out of our hub areas mail out gifts to our volunteers who help confirm receipt of gifts and ensure they safely get in the hands of families. 
  • In some (rare) cases, we arrange for families to mail directly to families in remote areas or, if able, meet families at a neutral location. We can only do this with families that give us permission to share their addresses. 
  • We pair families that are closest to you geographically as much as possible. This may mean that we find you a family local to you, but because families come to us for assistance/need we do NOT actively search for families out of our hub regions; we find families where there are needs.  We do not take requests for families in specific locations outside of our hub areas for this reason. 
  • Our target deadline for receiving packages is between December 10-17th depending on the region where your family is located. 
​Important Dates for This Year's Program:
  • Now through December 5th: Sign up to adopt a family with wish lists provided to donors.
  • November 15th-December 5th: Wish lists distributed to registered donors in the order in which requests are received. Those registered by Nov 8th will receive their  wish lists on November 15th. Those registered AFTER November 8th will receive wish lists within 7 days of their requests; at that point we will take families off our wait lists as donors commit to helping, which can take some time.
  • December 10th: Suggested deadline for angel tree collections for families
  • December 12th: Deadline for mailed packages to: SoCal, DC Metro, and NC
  • December 13th, 14th and 15th: Gift drop off events at various locations in SoCal, DC Metro and NC
  • December 15th and 16th: Deadline for mailed packages to San Antonio, Colorado, Yuma (AZ) and Florida
  • December 15th: Family gift pick ups at Camp Pendleton, and Lejeune
  • December 17th:  Family gift pick ups at San Antonio locations
  • December 18th: Family gift pick ups in Colorado, Florida and Arizona AND DEADLINE FOR FAMILY ADOPTION DONATIONS TO BE RECEIVED NATIONWIDE. 
  • December 18th: Family gift pick ups at DC Metro, Colorado and Florida locations
We do help families right up until Christmas day, but after December 12th, we encourage donors to help families through online donations and gift cards. This allows us to wire and deliver assistance quickly to families that come to our attention later in the season.