Breaching the subject of Operation Christmas Child

[BeanBag7]

Over the last few years it has become clear to me and many others that Operation Christmas Child is not as "good" and charitable as they appear to be. Many schools and youth groups still put together shoe boxes for them.

I want to let others know about this when they ask about which shoebox charity to support, or post pictures of their shoe boxes ready to go. But I dont want to look like a dick about it and be preachy.

Should I just leave it and let it continue, or am I right to make people aware of the issues? If so how would you go about it?

this thread from a couple of years ago has a good template letter and some useful links.

I did OCC at school, I don't do it now even as a Catholic, it does not sit well with me . I do make boxes for local charity or the care leavers my sister has at work.

Our local FB group has someone who collects items to make up gifts for the elderly in local care homes, many of whom have no relatives or anyone to remember them at Christmas. Maybe you could suggest something similar?

Some radical Christians are really scary and weird, and I'm saying that as a Christian.

I don't force my belief on anyone but to me, evangelising is telling people about the good you believe God does in your life and encouraging them to see if it's something that might work for them too... not spouting (as I witnessed once) unscientific shit about 'evolution myths' or coercing people who are living on the edge of poverty to agree with your beliefs for some welcome material comforts. It's messed up ideology to my mind.

So YANBU.

The Trussell Trust is also run by evangelical Christians. They’re just a lot more subtle about it.

Indeed. They won't take alcohol (the reply they gave me when I called to ask smacked of the deserving poor- these people they gave to couldn't be trusted to have a bottle of wine etc)
They are often hosted in churches.

I find a lot of people who preach against OCC don't actually bother doing anything for charity though!

What sort of research are you doing to come to that conclusion? Because I call bullshit. On this thread alone there are plenty of suggestions for alternative schemes that people are using.

Also google “rice Christians” if you’re still in any doubt about the ethics of OCC.

And I wouldn’t worry about legal action from OCC. A member of Samaritans Purse came on here some years ago and got his arse handed to him on a platter with a parsley garnish.

I've done a shoes box for years and Ive done this year's already but I will think more carefully what I out in it.

Our local homeless charity does a rucksack appeal where you fill a rucksack with essentials for the homeless, toothbrush/paste, socks, gloves, scarfs, wipes, sanitary for women, lots and lots of sweet things! Even if you don't have a local charity you can still do one and give it to a homeless person.

In Leicester we have Toys on the Table which gives toys to children being supported by social services either in the family home or in care.

Liverpool children's hospital usually have a toy drive for the children who are in hospital over Christmas.

Food banks take thinks like selection boxes and advent calendars which they distribute as additional treats in food bags.

@winteriscomingfast

The reason that foodbanks won’t take alcohol is because, unfortunately, some of their clients are alcoholics or recovering alcoholics, and they don’t want to trigger a relapse.

So Is the Rotary shoebox ok? Says no religious leaflets forced on children.

Many local councils do present schemes for children in care/families in need.
I would enquire locally. Where I live you get given a childs age and gender and you buy a suitable present for a suggested value.

I find a lot of people who preach against OCC don't actually bother doing anything for charity though!
I volunteer weekly for a charity and I volunteer at Christmas for a charity which donates gifts to local children.

Also I wonder whether doing nothing at all is actually better than doing something potentially harmful.

I warn anyone mentions they're doing it. A lot of people still have no idea what they're contributing too.

Also I wonder whether doing nothing at all is actually better than doing something potentially harmful.

I’m inclined to agree with this.

My local authority used to collect food items (manufacture packaged, nothing home made) for young people leaving care.

This comes up every year and every year I'm left puzzled.

I'm not religious. My mum is. She's volunteered for OCC for years and years and for several years went out on distribution trips. It was never the massive evangelical drive people describe on here.

I think you can explain why you don't support it, providing references/links with factual information and suggest an alternative such as Link to Hope.
linktohope.co.uk/shoebox-appeal-2019
Many Christians do not support OCC.

Our local Food Bank (independent not Trussel Trust) would not accept donations of alcohol, sadly a lot of clients do have addiction issues and it would not be appropriate to give out alcohol.

And yes, we do meet on Church premises. The Church is kind enough to give us free use of a dedicated space to store and distribute food, how many other organisations would do that?

This is from the twitter account of a former recipient of OCC boxes, link given earlier in thread:

The entire operation is, at best, well-meaning westerners patting themselves on the back for giving a shoebox of shit and, at worst, deeply problematic in all of the ways it casts western churches as nothing besides the saviours of theirs brethren in the "global south".

Shoebox of shit. That sums it up - all about making us feel noble and worthy without adding anything meaningful to the lives of others.

A few of us have written to our kids head teacher this year in the hope that she will support a different charity. I have refused to do OCC for years now but have always been called a scrooge or similar. More people are beginning to understand why now.

@WombatStewForTea

Please watch the short video linked to in my post upthread and tell me if you still think OCC doesn’t evangelise.

It’s true that the UK operation has tried to distance itself from the more extreme tactics of the parent organisation in the US, for obvious reasons.

So maybe ask your mum why she thinks OCC would choose to deliver Christmas presents and Christian literature to vulnerable children in Nepal (a country where over 80% of the population is Hindu and less than 2% Christian) and encourage them to take part in bible classes, if not to convert families en masse to Christianity.

We collect toys at my school and discreetly redistribute them to our families that we know are in need. The bonus being, we know our children and we know what gifts would suit which children.

Staff donate instead of Secret Santa (if they want to) and our family/friends and staff from local business have been really generous too. People seem more keen to donate when they know its going directly to someone in need.

I emailed my children's primary school a few years ago with concerns about them supporting OCC, they dismissed me as a bonkers parent.

Shoebox of shit

In a nutshell.

Mary's meals backpacks for one year, but our pupils found it much harder to fill one of those backpacks than to fill a shoebox for some reason

That’s ridiculous. It’s easier to do that, than the shoe boxes. You don’t even have to fill the backpack.

Reading that it sounds like someone who hates Franklin Graham and is out to only see the negatives.

I agree. And throws in a whole lot of other opinions about why nobody should be doing anything to offer help to these countries. I’d take the whole thing with a pinch of salt.

It isn’t a charity I support, but I would be mightily pissed off of some holier than thou decided to tell me who I should and shouldn’t support because they had read an opinion piece on the Internet.