To deliberately infuriate and annoy mumsnetters with this statement.

[bubbleOseven]

I am sending a Christmas Shoe Box this year.

So fuck you.

And the horse you rode in on.

I'd never thought of that MaryZ

I shall be doing this this year. Much more helpful IMO than a shoe box.

bubble0seven - have whatever opinion you want, but do you have to be so rude about it?!

IT'S SEPTEMBER.

Shoe boxes are collected end Oct/beginning Nov so only 5 weeks or so.

DH has always said that the Samaritan's Purse puts in a religious leaflet with the toys/whatever. The way that I rationalised it is that if the children weren't forced to read it, they'd chuck it out and get on with the gifts. Maybe that is naive of me but I know what my child would do. Also, your point re: Muslim/Hindu children having christianity rammed down their throats confuses me; the children turn up voluntarily with their families to where the boxes are distributed, so it can't bother them that much that there might be a naughty Jesus leaflet in the box.

Personally, I think that anyone complaining about the environmental impact of shipping the boxes needs to get something new to wrong their hands about.

We will be sending one to OCC as we do every year.

A bible story is no different to a fairy story if thats all the meaning you want to attribute to it.

p.s StewieGriffinsMom where do you stand on Christian Aid helping out in floods/earthquakes? Because they pray with people when handing out aid packs. Or is that OK because they are handing out needed aid?

Oh well if you are doing it deliberately to annoy and infuriate I will ignore you.

Erm, actually MaryZ, I like to teach my child that it's not all about him and that actually there are people in the world that have fuck all and that he might like to think about it, insteadof mindlessly crashing his way through life being a materialistic little toad like a lot of people.

Only on MN would you ever get morons berating you and dissecting your reasons for giving to charity. Seriously, it's tragic.

I dropped off a box of food for the church-run food bank this morning. I expect that I am Satan's handmaid for that little act. But fuck it, I feel good. I've handed in my contribution and forgotten about it because I am gratified. I most certainly did not walk home crying because I despair that people have to endure the fucking indignity of going to a food bank for food.

Some of you make me feel sick.

the shoe box scheme we use provide educational materials to the children that they are sponsering through school. For the purpose of being able to have the resources they need for school. A box of colour pencils can highlight things such as the two different types of blood in the circulatory system. The boxes are wrapped. they are essentially a box of school equipment.

The village school is a church based school, but if it wasnt the sponsership of the church there would be no school and no education available. All faiths welcome, but the focus is on education.

There have been kids who have been through this scheme and sponsered through uni have trained to be doctors who are helping their community or become school teachers. I dont believe in god, but i do believe in the power of arming people to help themselves. The simple gift of pencils and paper to aid with schooling can make a huge difference.

Goodness me, it seems a lot of people give out of the goodness of their hearts, be it to causes some of us agree with or not. Surely this is the positive message in this thread. Who the bloody hell are we to dictate what is "good charitable giving" and what is not?! Are we really going to base it on hearsay and anecdotal evidence found on a MN thread?

I tend to donate to local christmas collections and volunteer time at Crisis at Christmas...if we ALL did the same, massive groups of people would go unhelped, whilst others would have too much assistance. The beauty is the widespread application of charity, meaning we actually reach a hell of a lot of people in our individual ways.

Well said coraltoes.

In fact, one of DH's colleagues volunteers to go on these runs to Romania and he's never mentioned the religious zealousness aspect of it (he's an engineer and very atheist) he only ever mentions the emotional impact of seeing children being ecstatic at being given a box of inanimate objects that belongs to them.

Cupcakes - are you me? I have done exactly the same thing this morning

I agreed with some of your post MaryZ like there ultimately being a good outcome of people doing stuff to feel good. But it was the suggestion that people do it primarily to feel good that rankled.

Faiar enough, I may not have chosen the best charity according to StewieGriffin's holier than thou giving charter, but I (and most others I know that take part) don't do it for self-satisfaction. I'd much rather live in a world where I didn't have to give to charity because everyone has got everything they need to live healthily and safely.

My anger wasn't directed at you and you alone, I'm just very frustrated at some MNers picking apart people for essentially trying to help others out. It's fucking shit.

In the words of Stefan Dennis, don't it make you feel good, ShadesofViolet

Also it isn't against any law for christians to give to other...christians! It is quite an easy network for charitable giving, as churches are often affiliated across countries, and through schools...I don't think the crusades are still live and kicking in 2010.

Finally, christian or not, the OP was rude. I hope the contents of your shoe box were less ill-thought out than your words.

Good point coraltoes, about the church network. It is a good starting point to make sure that aid goes to those that need it.