Please don't say this is for Operation Christmas Child ( The Samaritans Purse).
If so , every year there are threads about how decent people are sucked into supporting this openly evangelical organisation.
It is its lack of clarity about its evangelical nature which has prompted many complaints from parents countrywide who have been asked to participate. Many schools have decided to support different shoebox schemes after having researched this organisation . In fact I have myself participated in the past, not realising their true nature.
What many parents, schools and bodies do not know is that behind Operation Christmas Child is the American evangelical charity Samaritan's Purse, headed by Franklin Graham ( son of the evangelist Billy Graham) who is blatantly and publicly intolerant of other religions and who
also have openly homophobic beliefs.
It is documented that the shoeboxes are used as leverage to sign up recipients to the organisations " Greatest Journey" curriculum, with little regard or respect for the children's religious or cultural affiliations.
I feel that Samaritan's Purse is at best not being truthful with the British public , and at worst is guilty of perpetuating an underhand and manipulative form of evangelising children through gifts.
There are many articles available backing this up if you google but I don't know how to link,
The Humanist Life for example.
The Co op no longer support this charity, nor do DHL who originally helped distribute the boxes. My local school and the large Children's organisation I work for have also withdrawn their support after doing some basic research as did my local Tesco after i sent them some links.
Anyway I really don't want to derail this thread, just want MN ers to be able to make an informed decision on which "charities " they support.
There are many other charities who run shoebox appeals without a hidden agenda.