To have a grumble about overly prescriptive Christmas donation collections

Quite. Different people have different standards when it comes to what is 'good' secondhand. You can see this in charity shops where bobbly, stretched and even stained sweaters, etc, are donated. If this sometimes makes the racks it makes you wonder what horrors they have to discard and, more importantly, who on earth thought anyone else would want it.

Properly good second hand can go to charity shops. Equally, as far as these charity drives are concerned, it should be 'opt-in', especially if it is schools, and it certainly should not be obvious who donated and who didn't. If you have several children the cost of all the fund raising activities can really add up.

As fun as toys are, children in dire situations need school supplies, toiletries, hair accessories, hat and gloves etc. Things that my children take for granted, but growing up I had none of these. For example I remember receiving a bar of soap that I treasured immensely and had to hide from my many, many older siblings. In our yearly boxes we put the above and also fun notebooks, colouring pencils, pens, stickers etc.

I know the boxes we have give guidance but as a recipient what do you think is important to include?

Operation Christmas Child has a slogan "Every shoebox a gospel opportunity".

This video shows how they use them, and their view of other beliefs - Nepal = Hinduism = 'darkness'. The shoeboxes are used as bribes to encourage children to convert to Christianity, and then bring their families with them. This is not something they make clear in their promotions in British schools.

If it is that kind of shoebox, OP, I would just say no. New items for struggling families in the UK is another matter.

Politely decline, let the school know, and ask that any other child whose parent declines to take part is not treated as somehow stingy or worse.

It wasn’t me, but it’s additional proof of how important they can be. 😔

Our school works closely with quite a few charities tackling child poverty and I get involved a lot because I know first hand what it means and the impact these donations can make.

I don’t remember seeing any leaflets trying to indoctrinate me in my box, I don’t think it’s a reason not to send them to children.

Many churches stopped doing Samaritans Purse because they were uncomfortable with their ethos (I know we did, it made us feel very uncomfortable that instead of just being a nice gift they were used as propoganda)

Items being new is completely understandable as some people will just dump crap that is fit only for the bin and might contaminate decent stuff.

If you can't afford it, don't. But toys can be picked up quietly cheaply from Amazon, Asda, Poundland, Home Bargains, B&M

Did you post about this years ago?
I remember in the usual rant against Samaritans Purse the most wonderful post by someone talking about how they received a box in Eastern Europe as a child and loved every item and kept it as they were homeless and moved until it fell apart. They urged people to make shoe boxes- it was very moving and made me make many many boxes over the years.

They do receive at least some of the Samaritans Purse boxes in tact as we have received photos and thank-you cards in the past.

They do this to equalise the content, some will be better than others.

I know someone who received a shoe box as a child in a war torn country. She was very pleased to get it.

I get why the charities say new only. They don’t have the resources to sort through and dispose of all the crap people will send. And if you’re in a shit situation then I get that it’s nicer to receive something new rather than a hand me down.

The shoeboxes… yeah as above depends who it is.

But anyway, you shouldn’t feel pressured. It’s an expensive time of year. There’s also more charity happening now. To be honest I don’t donate at this time of year, I do at other times when charities are struggling more.

Presumably that poster liked their gift and just ignored the leaflet.

That's fine. Someone else will knowingly choose to have 2nd hand used lego and you can use the money to buy new

Not all. Our church dropped operation Christmas child because that is run by Samaritan’s purse - google them. Very evangelical, homophobic etc. we also had concerns about the Christian proselytising using gifts to children in Muslim countries/regions.

We do them with the rotary club - no problem with those.

I'm really surprised after years of bad publicity that any schools promote samariton purse without clearly stating what it's about.
The letter we got did not say, " your box will be filled with promotional leaflets and used to promote evangelical Christians etc".
At least people would have a conscious choice then.

I think having a list for guidance is good, but it surely can't benefit the charity to be so prescriptive, as it will turn many people off who will then donate nothing as opposed to something that was within their budget (which is surely the purpose of charity?!)

I don’t know 100% but this Wales Online article seems to think they are acceptable compared to Samaritan’s Purse.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/operation-christmas-child-shoebox-appeal-17184994

The places I have volunteered at had a new for children rule so they could guarantee they knew the age range for the item and that it was up to current safety regs. It stops a dolly for 18+ months being given to a baby of 12+ months. Then with things like wooden toys the presence of the new packaging means the paint is safe.

I get they don't want just junk because everyone deserves nice things sometimes. However, I did see gaming consoles and headphones on a Xmas charity box at my work and thought, They'd be lucky! But maybe someone might be feeling very generous and, if you don't ask, you don't get. Fortunately, there are some cheaper items on the list too.

I think items need to be new because people can't be trusted not to put a load of tatty old junk in otherwise.

@Sethera unfortunately many charities simply don't have enough volunteers. They just don't.

Volunteers - I'd happily give my time to do that.

@Sethera ok if that's your view.
But when you say "they" should sort the donations - who exactly is the "they"?
My daughters primary did a collection for one of these schemes. It meant a massive pile of donations piled up in the hall. Who exactly was meant to sort them? The headteacher? A TA?

@OneOfLittleConsequence I googled teams4you and it seems they donate to East European countries and aren't affiliated with any religious or political groups. So they sound ok 🙂

If the need was that great they'd be prepared to sort through donations. Entirely their choice, but no charity that fussy will ever get my support.

@Sethera as I said above the problem with saying they will accept secondhand is a vast majority of what is donated will be unsuitable crap.
Just read anything about charity shop donations - huge amounts are not suitable to be sold.
There are plenty of other charities available to donate secondhand things.