To secretly fill a Christmas Charity shoebox with as good as new toys?

[ferriswheel]

I've filled an authentic one already. But all things considered I could do a great job of 'nearly new' version.

Or is this very bad karma?

[Ketoattempt]

I remember a lady on here whose child was at a private nursery in a place where there was a war a long time ago (long before any child was born). The child came out of the expensive nursery with a shoe box which made the mum uncomfortable, I think another child was laughing that people didn’t think they had soap.

I would never ever support OCC, they even admit they tone things down for the uk.

[Mountainpika]

It is good, IncyWincy. They are a very committed family as are the staff. (I know them all as I live not so far from their HQ)
They get a lot of sponsorship including help transporting.
In some countries the bags and contents are sourced locally, There's a lot of information on their website and their Facebook page.

[exexpat]

Greenleaf - I find it very hard to believe that the children receiving shoeboxes in the Nepal video, for example, are in any way 'culturally Christian'.

That may be the case in some other countries where OCC operates, for example in eastern Europe, where they are keen to evangelise and win converts from Orthodox christianity, or Latin America and the Caribbean (eg Haiti), where they try to recruit Catholics, but not in countries like Nepal where the vast majority are not Christian.

[SchadenfreudePersonified]

Last year DH and I badgered target and Walmart to give us toys they didn't expect to sell and would heavily discount anyway. The manager of target was brilliant and cut us a big deal which included bed linen sets for children, cookery items for adults and clothing items such as shoes, jewelry and handbags, backpacks etc. It meant that kids, parents and teens all got something.

THAT is BRILLIANT, Supermum. And lovely to see big business offering so much, too.

[SchadenfreudePersonified]

Mountainpika

Thank you for the Schoolinabag link. I'd read about this particular charity earlier this year, and then couldn't remember what it was called to donate.

[Mountainpika]

Pleased to help, Schadenfreude.

[sashh]

What's the point in sending bags and pencils to somewhere that has bags and pencils? You're paying for airmiles - why not send money for people to buy pencils and bags there?

Have a look at the site. The bags go to disaster areas. If your school has been flattened by an earthquake and you are living in a refugee camp then it might be a bit difficult to go buy pens. The bag also has eating utensils.

[RefuseTheLies]

I'm a former aid worker. Gift the money you would have spent on filling a shoebox to a reputable charity instead. Please.

[carefreeeee]

Evangelism is part of Christianity. So is homophobia. There's many churches even in UK that won't allow gay people the same rights as heterosexual couples. (also women and divorced people). In developing countries and the US churches take an even harder line. religion is not benign.

As for sending toys halfway round the world, I guess that's no worse than buying stuff for your own kids that's been made in China or wherever.

[G1raffe]

Our school has changed to another organisation (still shoeboxes going around the world....) but at least don't OCC

If churches want to support OCC that's one thing but so many schools in England at least support it with parents never knowing it's part of an evangelism drive!

[Cantseethewoods]

I don't know about the UK ones but in HK the boxes are normally sent as a part container load from a shipping donor (sea freight, not air freight). They wait till they have unused capacity and then stick them all on and the partner NGO distributes in country. The "Christmas" thing is somewhat symbolic as it doesn't all get there for Christmas anyway and most of these countries don't celebrate Christmas. It's basically just a marketing hook to get people to do the boxes at a time of year when they're focused on giving/ presents anyway.

Also, as a funder in the philanthropic sector I get what people are saying in respect of "donate the money for sustainable development work instead", but at the end of the day I'm all for a bit of circus on top of the bread. The boxes we distribute locally tend to go to refugee families or people living in cage homes or subdivisions. A few toys and books make a lot of difference to otherwise bleak existences. The distribution partners can also use them as an engagement tool to offer other services or support to hard to reach families.

e.g. family learns about scheme and comes to get the box with their children - social worker establishes they would be prioritised for public housing- helps them do forms and get on the list or establishes that children not fluent in local language- tells parents about free language or after school study support.

[StickThatInYourPipe]

"When I think of Nepal I think about Hinduism, there's just a lot of darkness there"

Yep that's a fantastic quote from the video a pp shared to highlight why people should not be supporting the OCC.

I like the school in a bag one! Thank you for sharing the link.

[Mountainpika]

It isn't authentic giving. It isn't maximising the good your gift can do, It's maximising the feel good factor you get as lady bountiful.

Hesterton - are you saying that the only reason people give is to feel good themselves?
Are you saying that people shouldn't give?
What do you mean mean by 'authentic giving'?

[Rachie1973]

I stopped doing OCC some years back when I realised how they distribute them.

I now collect stuff from Oct onwards for our local foodbank, so my kids are still doing something to help.

[Mountainpika]

Children like to help and it's good for them to understand that other children don't have such opportunities as they have. I find that children identify very much with the school bags. School is an area of life familiar to them and they are keen to help other children. Being able to track the bags makes it very personal for them. I funded and packed two bags last year in the names of my grandchildren. They were pleased to see photos of the children who received them.

They aren't linked to Christmas or any particular time of the year, the work goes on all year.

[babybat]

Can I ask those of you who donate new toys through other channels which organisations you give them to? I have some new unused books and toys that I would like to donate, possibly to kids in the UK, but I don't know where to donate them.

[Want2bSupermum]

SchadenfreudePersonified Thank you. We get quite a bit ourselves from doing it.

Personally I get a lot from the charity work we do for children's parties. We raise funds and have local businesses donate items so DC can always celebrate their birthday.

[steppemum]

Nothing stays in its shoebox anyway, everything goes into huge pile in sorting centres. If the toys look new they will probably be ok.

not true, don't know where you got that from.

[londonmummy1966]

I was wondering whether food banks took donations of this sort of thing just before Christmas - might be nice for struggling families to have a few extra things for the children? I have lots of books, packets of colouring pencils etc I could donate.

[MarvellousMonsters]

This non-profit does a shoe box scheme and a ‘develop with dignity’ scheme that helps girls with sanitary protection, they are affiliated to a church but don’t mention faith god etc in anyway. teams4u.com

[Totalshambles]

I had no idea about this, so I am very grateful for the link about OCC. I'll carefully check out what the shoebox scheme at my kids school is before participating. Thank you!!

[RaquelWelch]

AnneGrommit How do you know that the scheme the OP was referring to wasnt run by a non preachy group such as Plan UK, Oxfam, Save the Children etc??