To have written to the school about the Christmas shoebox scheme?

[gastrognome]

Just had a look through the leaflet sent home from DD1's school about the Christmas shoebox scheme that they are involved in.

Turns out the organisation adds religious literature to the boxes before they are distributed.

I love the idea of filling and sending a Christmas shoebox for somebody less privileged than us, but I really don't like the fact that these schemes are used as a means to evangelise. Of course Christmas is by its very nature a Christian festival but I don't think that it's right to "spread the word" by stealth.

So I just wrote to DD's school and suggested that next year they look for a similar scheme that isn't so evangelical in nature. I said I'd be happy to help research any organisations they could work with.

Do any others feel the same way, or have I turned into Scrooge?

Haven't read the whole thread but rang "refuge" about donating the same things I would have put in shoe box and some much larger items. They have a new policy of buying online gifts. When I explained that although I would love to I had some lovely build a bear toys etc etc they were amazing and were very happy to accept. Worth thinking about ?

Sparklythings
Perhaps you should read at least a few of the posts, before making such a sweeping statement.

It is not about Christianity, it is about the methods that this charity uses to spread their message.

And the fact that they send cheap tat half way around the world, at great distribution cost, instead of spending the £millions on actually helping the people in these countries.

exexpat
Good point about locally sourced items.

Sparkly,

If the boxes were being distributed to children who celebrate Christmas but don't recieve presents, then your remarks might be true.

A much more efficient way of doing that is to donate gifts via local organisations e.g. women's refuges, soup kitchens, family support organisations.

The boxes are being distributed to children who don't celebrate Christmas. they do, however, celebrate Eid or other celebrations appropriate to their own culture and religion .. children who wouldn't get christmas presents, shouldn't get christmas presents and for whom it is absolutely culturally imappropriate to suggest that they should get Christmas presents.

Would you be happy to get presents from Saudi Arabia to celebrate Eid / India to celebrate Diwali / from the Mormons on a particular celebration of their - along with an invitation for your children (who are hungry) to get free food and learn all about Islam / Hinduism / Mormonism (with the aim of converting them)? If not, then you should not send any boxes with operation Christmas Child.

sparklything it's ok, the thread isn't completely about what you think. It's just that there quite a few questions about whether this particular organisation is the best way of helping these children. There are issues with the approach they take towards people of other religions. There are concerns about whether the boxes actually reach the right people every time. There are worries about the effectiveness of sending stuff across long distances when the same could be purchased locally. Etc etc. The thread is actually worth a read, some interesting posts (and a bit of squabbling ).

towndon I didn't keep our leaflet, sorry but I did pass the toys etc on to children I knew locally who actually should have received a box.

I have only skimmed over all the pages here, so apologies if this has already been said, but I have just looked at the Operation Christmas Child website, on there FAQ page it specifically says: THEY DO NOT put Christian literature into the boxes and they specifically ask people not to put things in with a religious bias as that would not respect the culture they are sending the parcels to. Sometimes -e.g. if distributed within a church environment they give a Christian book out WITH the box but not in the box.
They DO open the boxes - as they have to know what is in there for customs purposes, not to swap the gifts around.

So where are people getting the information from that they are putting evangelical leaflets in the boxes? Is it an urban myth? Or are they blatantly lying ie being fraudulent on their website - as presuambly that is an offence.

Would anyone who's complained to their school be willing to share what they said? I want to raise my concerns but I'm not well (long-term not well, not just a cold) and I can't think properly or construct sensible arguments...

Not for me to steal, just to use as a starting point?

LittleMissGreen - they were banned in the UK from putting leaflets in the boxes. So all the boxes sent from the Uk, the kids are given the boxes with the leaflet on top of the box.

Boxes sent from the US have leaflets inside them.

LittleMissGreen, I think the UK website is a bit less open about quite how the boxes are used than the US website (same organisation) - here's the link to the OCC website again.

I don't think it really matters whether the leaflets are put inside the boxes or handed out with them - the key thing is that the shoeboxes are fundamentally seen as a tool for the evangelical aims of the organisation - 'every shoebox a gospel opportunity', as they put it.

since it is not a religious school, YANBU.

littlemissgreen the boxes my son and his friends were wrongly given had leaflets and Christmas items in them. So it does happen. The boxes came from the UK.

Grockle
I posted on my blog if you want to steal some stuff from that

Samaritans Purse do more than just redistribute shoeboxs of toys. Currently in Japan, working with local church people SP volunteers from Japan and abroad are cleaning and repairing houses damaged in the earthquake and Tsunami earlier in the year. The home owners/ renters get a weather proof dwelling, a box of household essentials that have been sourced locally and a japanese manga bible book. One of my family members is in Japan for a number of week volunteering with SP, they are a carpenter by trade and that's the work they are doing in Japan. As my family member speaks no japanese I doubt they are able to do much Christian brainwashing of the home owners they are working to help.

I suspect the OP would prefer a Rotary club shoe box if they want a non religiously alinded gifting scheme.

Thanks MMeLindt - will find link on FB

This has been a really helpful thread as a leaflet came home to us just a couple of weeks ago.
This is the email I have just sent to the head of our school (it's rather long, apologies!):

Dear Mrs *,

I wanted to ask whether it was possible to reconsider using Operation Christmas Child as the distributor of the Christmas boxes in future years.

I wholeheartedly support the idea of encouraging the children to give to those less fortunate than themselves, this is a great value to be teaching the children at the school.

However, looking more closely at the website of Samaritan's Purse, the organisation that operates Operation Christmas Child, I see that it is an evangelical Christian charity that seeks to give food, money and other assistance to people in need prior to preaching to them and attempting to convert them. It clearly states that it uses the Christmas boxes to "demonstrate God's love to sceptical communities".

As *** is not a church affiliated school it surprises me somewhat that it chooses to support such a charity. The leaflet informs us that bible stories are likely to be placed in the boxes and that we should encourage our children to pray for the child receiving the box.

I am not sure what research was done by the school to ensure the appropriateness of this particular charity but am concerned about the following aspects of it:

It's own website states that "We are an effective means of reaching hurting people in countries around the world with food, medicine, and other assistance in the Name of Jesus Christ. This, in turn, earns us a hearing for the Gospel, the Good News of eternal life through Jesus Christ"
www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/Who_We_Are/About_Us

Furthermore, its leader is Franklin Graham, son of the notorious American evangelist Billy Graham www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/Franklin_Graham/index/

The giving out of the Christmas shoe boxes is intended to lead many of the recipients on to a follow up progam of discipleship www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/articles/an_eternal_harvest/

The organisations own newsletter (albeit it from two years ago), making it's aims for this scheme very clear, are here: www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/Newsletter/october_09/

Should you be interested there is further information regarding the concerns that many have had about this organisation here: secularderby.org/purse.htm#N12

I understand that the Rotary Club, amongst others, operate similar schemes without the associated proselytising www.rotaryshoebox.org/.
There are further ideas here: www.humanism.org.uk/humanism/humanism-today/humanists-doing/charities/samaritans-purse

I appreciate that the school may have worked closely with Operation Christmas Child for several years, and that this may be an issue that you have already looked into, but would be very interested in your comments.

Mmelindor I just subscribed to you blog first time I've eveer done that!

I can see why you had concerns, but I think it was a bit OTT to write to the school about this.

oooh, thanks, Wellies. It is pretty new, the subscription thing and I do feel a bit of a billy-no-mates with just a couple of subscribers one of them is me and one is my mum

You're all miserable buggers

I grew up in care with a shite abusive foster family and I never got any Christmas presents at all. I'd have loved a shoebox with some stuff in, regardless of any leaflets.

hiddenhome
I know, that is the really sad thing though. If the company (and it is a company not a charity) did not use this as a means to an end, ie to convert children to Christianity, then many more people would perhaps send a box.

I would love to send a box of gifts to a child in UK or Europe, if I knew there were no strings attached.

I spent many a happy hour when I worked with the homeless, taking all the religious stuff out of things that were donated to them. I can't imagine what would have happened when our deeply religious Somali clients had got a bunch of Christian nonsense handed to them. They would have blamed the staff, who were not involved and not in the main Christians and we would have had to deal with the fallout.

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=religion+penis&hl=en&biw=1366&bih=705&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=p3fLhgSb_7yW1M:&imgrefurl=www.buzzfeed.com/koolnewsblog/religion-is-like-a-keep-it-inside-1dgl&docid=Er8V0ONKevSf0M&imgurl=s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/imagebuzz/web03/2010/9/3/6/religion-is-like-a-keep-it-inside-11297-1283509798-5.jpg&w=540&h=372&ei=D8OxToXMJZSOigKUmPgS&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=190&vpy=164&dur=78&hovh=186&hovw=271&tx=123&ty=129&sig=112919239939396177706&page=1&tbnh=145&tbnw=211&start=0&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">In my opinion

Hi, just read the thread with interest. DS's school (Catholic) does OCC/SP each year. I refuse to participate.

I am a Catholic but I object to the principal behind the boxes. They are seen as a tool for evangelising and the leaflet that is included is DREADFUL. The person who wrote/ typeset/designed that thing ought to be shot. There is a page in it where the child signs to say they are a sinner but that they have seen the light.
Thing is, the countries where some of the boxes are distributed are NOT usually Christian countries and the children would not normally celebrate Christmas.
I know full well that should a disaster befall our country and we were starving I would see it a shoddy if a representative of another religion trie to give my kids stuff to celebrate a festival we did not share and then handed out a leaflet telling my kids their beliefs were wrong..........

No doubt DS will turn up with the leaflet, I will say we aren't doing it and then we will decide what gifts to buy from Cafod instead eg clean water, a school pack etc.

People are free to chuck the leaflets away or make paper aeroplanes out of them!

ffs it's just a leaflet. I get stuff handed out to me in the street where I live, I just ignore them.