The thing is, putting aside the evangelical aspect since there are also some secular charities that run these shoe box drives, sending boxed up gifts of cheap presents is just a bad way of giving aid.
Normally when you donate to a charity you hope that they take your money and use it to meet people's needs, or even better help them solve problems (like corruption, lack of education, lack of economic opportunity, unfair trade rules etc..) that are standing in their way.
Good organisations work with local people, try to understand what outside help they need, and then use their resources in the most cost efficient way (so they can help more people).
The shoe box thing seems like a nice gesture, but it falls down on so many counts:
- Is what children from Kyrgyzstan to Liberia most need from us a once a year delivery of toys, toothpaste, sweets etc...
- If it is (and this seems a bit odd - why would they only need toothpaste once a year..) then is the most cost effective way to get it to them to send the products from overseas (could they not be bought locally, helping to create local jobs. Of if you can't buy these products locally why not - maybe there isn't a local culture of toothpaste use, maybe they use something else, maybe what's needed is dental education, maybe there isn't a culture of teddy bears etc....)
- If the best thing is really, really to donate these goods by shipping them from the UK, then is the best way to do it to buy them at retail price and then package them with a lot of cardboard, paper and air, so that shipping costs and logistics are more expensive.
If you look at your donation say you give £2.50 in cash and spend £10 on contents - could this £14.50 buy more toothpaste, sweets, toys etc..for more children if bought locally and in bulk. Or might it even be used to buy something else if you asked the children, their parents and the organisations working with them what they would spend it on.
I know this seems like a heartless way to look at a gift but this is how serious aid agencies think about how to use donations in the best way to help people in need. And that is why Oxfam, Christian Aid, CAFOD, Save the Children Fund, Action Aid etc... none of them waste their time and your money on xmas boxes.
Or you could argue that it is the gift part itself that is most important. But I think this is for the giver rather than the receiver (in some cultures, even where they are Christian they won't have the whole individual presents/shiny wrapping thing as part of their tradition). Just how meaningful is a 'gift' from someone you don't know/know nothing about/knows nothing about you/will never intervene in any other way?
I know parents and schools do this with the best intentions and because it seems like a fun and direct way to help people and get kids involved in thinking and helping others.
But I think it just teaches kids such bad messages about aid that it is not worth it on any front: e.g. that children in poor countries have 'nothing' (no parents, no community,no politics, no culture worth worrying about), they are passive recipients - whatever we send them is good and you can send the same thing to poor children everywhere, you can turn off your critical thinking when it comes to charity 'good intentions are enough'.
(sorry for the essay)