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.

The problem is that there are shady organisations pretending to be good causes that exploit givers and recipients alike. It's not the people who donate via Samaritan's Purse who are the issue, it's the people who run it.

I managed to stop ds's school donating to SP again - we chose a reputable charity instead.

I helped distribute shoeboxes to children in downtown Kingston - the boxes had been organised by a group of British Customs officers who worked in British and Jamaican airports and had seen for themselves the devastation caused by drugs to the children in Jamaica.
It was done through a charity which was working in the area, building a community centre.
The children were absolutely delighted with their small gifts and toiletries.
I agree that some of these charities are very dubious, and disagree strongly with linking them to religion in any way. But in this case I think it was a fairly harmless exercise which brought happiness to a lot of pretty deprived children.

Edam - Mary's Meals is a great charity. Our school give to them too.

Molly, found out about Mary's Meals on MN - might have been you who told me about it? Such a great charity. Our children felt really good about it and I hope the recipients did too.

I think I've got a grip thanks, stewiegriffin.

I did say previously in the thread that I would vet more closely who I sent my box with, but I will still send one. It seemed to me that your real problem with the boxes was the environmental impact and impracticality of the items sent. I don't have a problem with either of those things so that's my choice.

I'm still a bit confused about your point regarding Muslim/Hindu children turning up to receive christmas boxes being offended by a christian leaflet. If I voluntarily took charity from a mosque, I would expect that I might have a bit of Islamic teaching preached to me. Or am I being an idiot about that too?

They do send the boxes in March. Or another month that is not December, I'm sure of it.

Like I said, I will be looking more closely into SP and deciding on whether I will be sending them my box or not when I've peered more closely. As far as I knew, it was a prayer and a Jesus leaflet which didn't (to me) seem too offensive.

Why would anyone turn up for a box without an inkling of what is inside them?

Also, I don't think it is necessary that they know it is christmas but I do believe that they should know the spirit of christmas which is giving and not expecting anything in return. I think that everyone regardless of faith could use a bit of that.

Other faiths do charity, too, you know. Britons have been amongst THE most generous donors to Pakistan after the floods and I'd guess much of that is from British Muslims.

"Evangelical material" is just a bible story for goodness sake. They're not being brainwashed. People are free to believe what they want to believe. Some people may read bible stories and decide they are Christian, many will not. I honestly don't have a problem with reputable charities distributing aid and saying "this is what we believe". Those that decide that its for them will do so willingly and happily surely?

Either some of you are deliberately or unintentionally smearing a charity that helps children (how nice ), or Samaritan's purse are misleading their supporters and should be reported to the charity commission. Which is it? Both are serious in my book and should be dealt with properly, not on a random internet forum.

The charity's website says:

"Operation Christmas Child works by taking your gift-filled shoebox - packed, wrapped and taken to one of local drop off points - and hand delivering it to a child in need, asking nothing from them in return.

All shoeboxes are given to children in need, with no regard to their background or beliefs. We work with local partners on the ground to ensure that your gift-filled shoebox is delivered with integrity and with respect to the local culture.

Where culturally appropriate, our overseas partners will make available a booklet of Bible stories, which gives a message of hope and an explanation of the true meaning of Christmas - God's gift of His Son, Jesus."

Any Christian organisations aim is to convert non-believers I would have thought. Not sure why this is something to be suspicious or fearful of? You can only convert to Christianity if you want to.....

Make a child happy, they won't worry about where it came from!

If those of us in the UK are dealing with the UK arm of the charity which is acting responsibly, then how are these claims relevant? If my box ends up in the hands of the US charity, yes, I would be concerned and it is something I wouldn't want, but is that likely?

I think the fairest way to deal with this would be for mumsnet to invite a representative of the charity on here for a webchat so we can ask these questions.

That's what I thought, Ornamentalcabbage

Oh here we are. Another twat lovely poster being rude about people trying to be nice.

Gives a whole new meaning to the term joysucker anyway...

And why would you be any less smug about imagining a child having an operation on a hare lip than opening a box?

Right, so as long as someone is on the same side of the fence as you it's ok to be rude? I'm not the only rude one here, Mary.

And I rarely get this wound up in real life. That's because I choose not to surround myself with sanctimonious arses who think that they are superior with their charitable choices.