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?

We have this debate every year.
You pay for the distribution cost when you send the box - £2.50.

I like the idea of collecting for a local women's refuge, children's home or children's hospital. I'll suggest that.

I do agree that it makes sense to optimise the value of gifts or donations by giving to people near home.

So what are the "right" ways to spread the Christian message Gastrognome? Only in open discussion groups with educated people, all sides of faiths and arguments being represented?

I don't see a leaflet in a shoebox as being any different from lots of (non extreme) types of evangelism that lots of churches practice - knocking door to door to deliver the Watch Tower in the case of Jehovahs Witnesses, large billboards outside American gospel churches...part of being a Christian is spreading "the word".

Isn't gift giving supposed to be just that - a gift?

Why add strings to the gift, in form of Christian literature?

Then it is not a gift, but a bribe.

BTW for some environental issues I am not 100% keen, but not for the reason of evangelism!

the brochure

porca - the idea it is a tool for evangelism comes from Samaritans Purse themselves.

samaritans purse website

welliesandpjamas, I know they don't put the literature in because I know people who have helped in the warehouses checking and sealing the boxes

BTW I have no problem with churches evangelising - not my cup of tea but if that's what they want to do they have every right to do it.

But they brainwash the kids in school to send the boxes and it's bribery when it gets to the other end.

And if I gave £2.50 direct to the country the shoeboxes are going to it would be more useful. (ie just the distribution cost you have to pay)

Well, they must have forgotten to do that the day they sent them to Bosnia that year then, right?

Btw, our boxes weren't sealed. Locally opened before distribution, maybe??

I think in terms of making a positive impression on the recipient and inclining the parents to be well disposed to Christianity (if perhaps this is the secondary aim beyond what most givers are aiming to do which is IMO simply hope it pleases a dc somewhere else in the world), I think a simple gift and knowing who sent it - a Christian organisation in Britain say, will have a much more positive effect than one laden with heavy handed evangelising. To gear it at dc is just slightly dodgy IMO

Barnowl - as I said, they got stick for putting the literature in the boxes, they are working towards the situation in the UK being the same as the US where they are allowed to put the literature in the boxes, but what they do for UK boxes now is hand the child the box with the literature on the top of the box.

So, to be clear, boxes from the UK they are not allowed to put the literature in. Boxes which are sent from the USA they are allowed to put the literature actually in the box.

Just for info, it's not even 2.50 here (sorry no pound sign on my keyboard) it's 5 euros.

My DH used to work for an organisation that sends out shoeboxes (Christian,but they don't make stipulations about going to a service, or include literature).
Yes they do go through the boxes. Unfortunately people put the strangest things in boxes, including on one memorable occasion a large bra, and on another a pair of oversize knickers. Sometimes secondhand items are put in even though the leaflet stipulates new, and we used to have to make sure no battery operated toys were included because batteries were not readily available in the country they were going to.
And as for some people being more generous than others, yes, that is what happens and the organisers want to make sure that no child gets the box with the secondhand hat or used pencil when the person next to them gets a spakling new set of felt tips or whatever.
My advice is if you don't agree with it, don't do it. You could always give a toy to one of the local charities for children in Britain and explain to your DC that this is your way of giving.

What SGM said. Exactly.

So they ask for £2.50 per box for transport costs. How many boxes do they send?

According to the website: Over 8 million children around the world received shoe boxes last year.

So if you take £2.50 x 8 million and just USE that money - would that not help more children?

£20m would pay for a few schools, some water projects.

And lets be honest. Yes, a box of tat may well make a child very happy, but it is not going to educate the child, feed the child, keep it safe from harm and give it a brighter future.

Boxes go to local distribution centres in the UK where they are checked and sealed before transportation btw

Are you sure they were from the same organisation? as there are lots of people who run these schemes.

startwig, Christmas is a mishmash of other celebrations and religions, adopted by Christians in around 300AD iirc because it was convenient. Jesus wasn't born in December, it's just that the pagans et al were already celebrating on December 25th, so they nicked it and renamed it. It's yuletide and most of the traditions - mistletoe, gift giving, Christmas tree, 12 days of celebration, St Nicholas etc - belong to ancient religions which predate Christianity.

So having a tree and exchanging gifts and kissing under mistletoe and eating nice food and having a yule log etc means that you're celebrating things like Solstice really.

My point is that you're not a hypocrite to celebrate yuletide. It was never Christian to begin with, they just couldn't stop the pagans from having their own festivals so they half inched and renamed them. But they haven't quite managed to stop the ancient rituals and traditions and those are the ones we observe in this house.

hmm well we will all not see eye to eye on this one , depending on how your stance is with evangelisation generally I suppose. Still, it would be good if schools do support these schemes for the parents to know what exactly is involved in terms of evangelisation, which seems not to be the case.

Definitely.

8 million shoeboxes is more than I would have guessed MmeL and 20 million is a good amount altogether, isn't it?

Barnowl - I'm absolutely sure.

YANBU. Our school decided to do this shoebox project one year. Then a few parents found out about the dodgy aspects of the scheme (religious literature distributed with the boxes, pressure put on the children to attend religious classes) and complained to the school. The project was cancelled even though some of the boxes had already been prepared. We gave them to a local charity instead.

I was impressed and proud of the way the school handled it. It IS a faith school, but a large percentage of the pupils are Muslim, and so the school is quite sensitive to the needs of children with non-Christian faiths. The thought of my DS's Muslim friends packing shoeboxes unawares to be sent off to Muslim children in other countries in order to try to convert them to Christianity is pretty appalling to me. Basic respect for other people's faiths is important.

In 2010, our teams in Australia and New Zealand delivered 305,976 gift-filled shoe boxes to South East Asia and the South Pacific. Over 8 million children around the world received shoe boxes last year. Over 130 countries have received shoe boxes since 1993. As each shoe box gift is delivered, it is treasured by the child that receives it, and is a lasting reminder that he or she is precious to God.