To be proud of DS over this (warning, naughty parent/Operation CHristmas CHild-related)

[SolidGoldYESBROKEMYSPACEBAR]

Ds is 8 and his school will persist in the poxy Samaritans' Purse appeal though I have written and complained at least twice (if you don't already know, it's a racist rightwing evangelical organisation, culturally insensitive, despised by most aid charities and a waste of resources.). I have never contributed to it and never will, and have explained to DS that it's a bad organisation run by bad people, and that good people (like those at his school) don't always understand that sometimes bad people pretend to be good...

Anyway, today, according to DS, one of the teachers asked the DC to guess how many shoeboxes they were going to get this year/how many they hoped for. DS raised his hand and said...... 'ZERO'

That's m'boooy!

so the school shouldn't do it cos you object... presumably the majority don't object.. think yabu.

The majority probably don't know the true purpose of the collection, or about the conversion aspect of the charity.

I spoke to a mum at school today who had no idea - she wasn't impressed when she realised what the charity is really about.

He he he

I wonder how many oldies in disguise there are. I bet there are loads.

Actually, the majority of families at the school either do object or simply aren't interested; the number of boxes given every year over the past 3 years has been less than 30% of the total number of pupils in the school. Which is of course a Good Thing.

Tbh we've not got to the school shoe box thing yet.

I have been wondering, however, what percentage of MN comes under the "dim enough to take religion seriously" category mentioned earlier upthread.

well I'm happy to tell you all that for the last 20 (yes 20) years I have donated 4 shoe boxes each year to Samaritans purse through my own children's (and now minded children's) Catholic school.
op-I would have been ashamed if one of my children acted like your ds

Glad you are happy fudge, I mean, there are other, better, shoebox appeals out there. OCC is not the only choice - but it IS the choice that supports racist, bigoted homophobes. But as long as you are OK with that,

OCC is quite hard to avoid in schools.

Even at our otherwise sensible secondary, DS has come home saying that he will get a detention unless he brings items in for this appeal.

I've sent him off with a note for his form tutor, but if detention it has to be, then I'm sure he can while away the time thinking of himself as a political prisoner cruelly incarcerated for his beliefs.

He'll enjoy that rather a lot.

^

but detention, that's crazy. Even if it's fee paying, how can they ask that?

I'd be raging at a detention , I think that's disgusting.

(I'd enjoy the political prisoner bit though!)

Kitties: that's awful and possibly even illegal. Unless your DS is exaggerating (as kids sometimes do), I think it would be worth kicking up a huge fuss if DC are effectively being told that they will be punished for holding a different opinion to the school on what is a matter of personal choice/ethics, not part of the curriculum.

LtEveDallas-this will probably shock you to the core but if my catholic school, which is supported by my catholic church is happy with sp then yes I am ok with it. I would rather trust their judgement then any one elses

Well inspired by the couple of threads there are on this, I emailed DS1s school yesterday, expressing my concern and giving them several of the links people have provided on here, including Samaritan's Purse's own literature.

I was impressed with the very quick response of the headteacher (he's new so possibly in 'make a good impression' mode). It was clear he had no idea about the background/ethos/activities of SP, was concerned, and agreed that based on the information I was provided, they are not a charity the school should associate themselves with.

I don't think they will do OCC next year which I am pleased about, but although he said it was too late to change this year (deadline for boxes was this morning), I have expressed a view that many parents will have given in ignorance, and I think morally the right thing to do is let parents know there are concerns with the beliefs and activities of this organisation, and give them the option to have their donation back.

We'll see if he does that. I'm sure most parents wouldn't bother wanting it back now they've gone to the trouble and expense, but I feel it's important people make an informed decision, and that the school has a moral obligation in circumstances where it has concerns, to give parents the opportunity to do just that.

A gift isn't a gift if it has strings.

Using the principles of a timeshare presentation to sell religion to poor children is despicable. Even if not every church does this, some obviously do otherwise it wouldn't be on the website.

Doing this on the back of donations from children who aren't fully informed what they will be used for is at the very least unethical.

I would rather trust their judgement then any one elses

Your choice fudge, I'd rather trust my own judgment - and that is not to support a charity that brings in $Millions for its 'head' - who is a racist, bigoted, Islamaphobic, homophobe. That puts conditions on its charity, that isn't supported by the Charities Commission, and whose primary goal isn't to 'help' people, but to evangelise.

Did you miss WearingGreens post above:

The Catholic church was furious that they used aid money to bus thousands of Catholic kids to an evangelical concert after Hurricane Mitch. They also made Catholic victims of the El Salvador earthquake sit through prayer meetings before they would give them aid provided by the US government

Is your Catholic School aware of that?

I have been searching for a non-religious alternative to OCC and similar schemes.

So Huge Thanks to the poster upthread who mentioned the Backpack Project: www.marysmeals.org.uk/what-you-can-do/backpack-project/ This is just perfect - to give education is the greatest gift we could give to any child in poverty.

I'm going to give the info to my DCs' schools and ask my Brownies whether they want to do it. It's all year-round too.

"I would rather trust their judgement then any one elses"

I agree you have to trust the judgement of your school/church. But in circumstances where you personally come across evidence that is concerning, engaging independent thought has to be the right thing to do, surely?

It's entirely likely the Catholic school/church are unaware of the issues, as my DS1s school were, and would be grateful for your input in order to enable them to make an informed decision about whether to support SP.

If they decide that they want to continue supporting the charity and you want to trust that judgement, fair enough. But blinding unquestioningly trusting it in the face of evidence provided to you does you, your children and the management of the school no favours.

New York Times story on Samaritan's Purse and Hurricane Mitch it appears that many people raised concerns about Samaritan's Purse preying on vulnerable people in times of desperate need and that they led prayer sessions before they would give any help to those in need.

These people were not Muslim, they were largely catholic people who were being told to accept Jesus Christ into their lives - I mean, WTF?

As they are out there again in the wake of Superstorm Sandy it will be interesting to see how their relief efforts are reported. Remember, that if they can prey on vulnerable people so openly in El Salvador, just how much more will their religious intent be pushed in countries where no-one reports from?

I would advise people to think carefully before donating and perhaps choose a different charity over which there are no concerns. There has been too much criticism of Samaritan's Purse for them to sit easy with me.

Well, I'm slightly disappointed to report that his form tutor has just emailed to say 'That's fine, we quite understand that children may want to support other charities instead'.

Was all geared up for the fight!

Kitties. Poor old 'not a political prisoner after all' DS

Oh good Kitties - I was a bit outraged at the thought of a child getting a detention if they do not "donate" to a charity. Isn't this requestig goods with menaces?

I've just walked into an office at work to hear someone imploring their colleagues to donate to the Christmas Child appeal.
I said are you sure you want to donate to that charity as they don't have the best record of using their funds wisely, attach conditions to their "gifts" and promote homophobic views etc...
She gave me a what the fuck do I care stare and said "well I'm doing it to support the nursery so I don't care about anything else"

Ah well ...

I don't do the shoeboxes with my DC's as I disagree with the Charity behind them, as does the OP.

However, in it's place, my DC's pick a toy that they would like to have, and we wrap it and give it to our local Wonen's refuge, as people can come in on Christmas Eve with just the clothes they turn up in. It means that the children in that situation have something to open.

No religious ethos to my giving, just wanting to make someone happy. I don't have much money, but this is really just a small thing that is easy to do.

Give a donation/sponsorship to SOS Childrens Villages. It is non-religious and works with children worldwide. Children are housed within their own communities in 'families'. They are fed, clothed, educated and trained - and "mothered" by their house mum. When they reach adulthood, they are given a sum of money to buy a home or business, but continue to receive support from the charity.

All the staff are home-grown and the UK staff are volunteers. You get a couple of letters from the home each year regarding 'your' childs progress sometimes with a photo. They don't really want the kids to feel like they are in a zoo, so don't make them write to you! Money is not wasted and they are desperate for funds at the moment.