to copy in the other parents on an email about Operation Christmas Child

[MrTumblesBavarianFanbase]

DD and DS1's school have decided to do Operation Christmas Child this year for the first time, and have sent a long, gushy letter home with a slip which we have to sign to acknowledge we have read, and return to the class teacher.

I am putting together an email response which I will send to the head and my children's teachers, explaining that it is not as innocent as it appears, pointing out the racist, Islamaphobic elements and the evangelism, and also pointing out that it is a very inefficient way of giving that does not support the communities receiving the boxes. I am asking that they re-consider and perhaps direct the children towards a more ethical and useful way of giving to people in poorer countries. I will include a link to an online article.

WIBU to cc the other parents in on an email like this, given they have all had a letter home from school gushing about the chance for the children to to think about those less fortunate and making it almost compulsory to take part? I am pretty sure most people will take the letter, and the project, at face value and fill the boxes with a warm cosy feeling, (or slightly grudgingly but feeling they sort of have to) not knowing how they are used etc.

And yes very similar to RC which, in my view, says some terrible things to children and adults and holds ridiculous views on homosexuality and condoms.

Sorry to hijack the thread. But are other shoebox appeals also bad? I.e The "Link to Hope" shoebox appeal?

From what I've heard (but I have not looked into them in as much detail as OCC) none of the other shoebox schemes are thinly-disguised missionary schemes. Some of them are distributed by churches, so there may be a slight element of that, but not in a full-on way. The Rotary Club distributes its boxes through a mixture of church and non-church local organisations, I think, so that might be worth trying.

Personally, I'm not keen on the whole send-a-shoebox-overseas thing as a concept anyway, as it is a very wasteful form of charity: buying goods, often imported, that may or may not be liked/wanted/needed/culturally appropriate, at full price, including 20% to the government in the form of VAT, then paying again to ship them off back abroad somewhere. Much better to donate cash to charities, preferably gift-aided so they can claim back tax, and then they can use the money where it is most needed, and if possible boost local economies in the regions where they are working by spending some of the money there.

The appeal of shoebox schemes often seems to be in the warm fuzzy feeling it gives the donors, rather than thinking more rationally about the best use of charitable giving. If giving cash seems too impersonal, I'd split my donation between cash for an overseas aid charity, and a gift for a local charity working with deprived families, or a women's refuge.

Sorry, forgot to check back on the thread - thank you for your excellent posts exexpat