Samaritan's Purse asking children to create Christmas boxes - anyone heard of them?

[edam]

I'm a little uncomfortable about this charity using the school to promote their work and seek donations from small children because I'm vaguely aware that they have been accused of being unethical.

They are an evangelical organisation, which isn't very clear from the literature they give out, and they've been accused of withholding aid from Muslims and Hindus who refuse to convert to Christianity (including aid from governments, not just their own funds). I'm not sure how accurate this is.

Soooo, my question is, do any MNers know about this charity and what do you think of it?

Oh dear, I foresee fun-filled years ahead now my DS is 4 and we are about to find him a school...
Because if I got asked to contribute to this I would first write to the school and tell them that I would not support a dodgy propagandist organisation like this. THen I would suggest a charitable alternative. IF the school didn;t drop Samaritans Purse I would refuse to let DS contribute, would instead get him to contribute to another charity, and I would be on to the local paper/news/radio about it and make as much fuss as possible about this nasty toxic fake 'charity'.
This is why I will never go along with the mindset that peddling religious crap to children in school is 'basically harmless'. Because it allows foul parasitic organisations like Samaritans Purse to prosper and con people and do actual harm.

ds's school is non-denominational so I would question the ethics of supporting evangelical organisations anyway. Several of his classmates come from Muslim families - is it right and proper to ask them to support a 'charity' that aims to convert Muslims?

We have been asked to donate under the 'smaritans purse' org.. I have notlet dd(6) do it but she really wants to.

I have just applied to be agovenor and we are waiting for the votes. should I raise concerns about the 'charity'?

She is at a CofE school but they do , obviously, have children from other faiths there. Iam not religious and would be happy for her to donate to a charity that is non-biased when giving the donations.

I am against the fact that they seek to convert.

I'm tired now and do not have the time tomorrow to look through all the links. Can anyone give me a brief overview of the main issues?

Are they a non-profit making organisation would be a key one?

hi I posted a few weeks ago that my daughter had come home from brownies with a letter asking for support.

I had read other threads about them on here including the one where a munsnetter's children came home from nursery with one - she lives in Bosnia.

I wrote a letter to the Brown Owl stating my reasons why I wasn't going to support them and on the basis of that they decided not to go ahead with it.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk?topicid=_chat&threadid=624262-oh-dear-dd-came-out-of-brownies-wit h-a-letter#12715255

MascaraOhara: yes, raise objections. Without (on this occasion at least) having a pop at the many religious people/organisations who do good charitable work without a nasty proselytising agenda, the default position of the stupid is often 'They are Christians so it must be all right' and this is OFTEN NOT TRUE so people need to object hard and fast when it isn't.

Well, I sent my email last night and this morning the head came and found me when I was dropping dd off (which was fast!). She said she had no idea about Samaritans Purse, that the Christmas Box programme had been organised by one of the parents years ago and they'd kept doing it because it seemed like a nice thing to do. She agreed that what I had described in my email was not appropriate for the school, and said she would look into it more closely when she had time to review the website...too late for this year, but maybe next?

Probably didn't make it clear, but I didn't mean that I doubted what was being said about them as they seemed reputable sources and the charity themselves makes it clear what they're up to if you delve deeper.

What I meant was that I think it's pretty shocking that so many institutions, for want of a better word, seem to be supporting them and this seems to me to be a failing on their part - ie that schools/nurseries/cubs etc aren't looking into the charity they're supporting and are looking at the 'isn't it a nice idea to buy some presents' part of it. If these places looked harder, there are plenty of other organisations that do similar things - like the World Vision and Oxfam idea of buying a goat or whatever or locally social services often run schemes.

Due to reading about this on MN this week I've also raised the issue with the head of my dt's school and she had no idea either. Fortunately she is also uncomfortable with their motives and will be looking into alternatives for next year.

I have emailled DD's nursery to explain why I won't be contributing a box, including adding the links to some of the articles and direct pages from SP's website. The manager's response was that whilst she respects my reasons, "We regard this as a simple act of generosity" and that "We neither condone nor oppose the charitable works of this organisation". If taking part in the scheme and donating £2.50 per box isn't condoning it, then I don't know what is!!

How disappointing when people in authority take such a superficial view of their responsibilities.

It's a bit awkward because I really feel bad on behalf of some of my friends whose children have contributed boxes and who are Muslims. I'm not sure they'd be terribly keen if they knew it was an evangelical organisation, headed by someone who thinks Islam is evil, and whose purpose is to convert Muslims. But I'm going to keep quiet because there seems little point in telling them now.

dd's school have just done samaritans purse, gave a leaflet out just before half term. i email the head with links to various articles about it, including the rather damning guardian feature, then also spoke to the school secretary to check they had got the email, but it's still going ahead, boxes are being collected tomorrow. i think they do not want to admit they may have made a mistake in choosing this particular charity as it was the new deputy heads idea by all accounts. hopefully, next year they'll do their research a bit more accurately.

I emailed. Suggested they looked into using another facilitator for this kind of appeal next year.

I hope they do but I'd like to think my email was open enough for them to be able to make a decision without having to 'save face' I really hope they think twice before using the samaritans purse next year

We're being asked to contribute to this again this year and I'm a bit after reading last year's threads about strings being attached in order to receive the boxes. Does anyone have any updated info on the legitimacy of its work please?

My dc's are Muslim and my eldest attends an excellent church of England charity. Every year his school does a box collection for this charity which I thought was great but am disgusted to hear there are conditions attached to receive a box. Nothing against donating to a religious charity but will not donate to one that excludes other religions or puts in place conditions. I received a flyer last week for a Muslim charity that was doing an appeal for homeless Muslims in the UK, this also upset me as surely everyone regardless of religion is entitled to help if needed.

link from their site

"The goal of the project is to offer children the opportunity to participate in the Operation Christmas Child Discipleship Program, and to give every graduate of this exciting program a New Testament in their local language."

I watched some of the vids on their site - the CEO described the boxes as an Evangelical tool

Oh dear,
my ds1 in reception came home with the Operation Christmas Child leaflet on Friday. I'm not too happy about it so did a mumsnet search on it and am now feeling really annoyed at the school.

I am an ex convent school girl and we did all sorts of fund raising for missions, not realising what missions go and do (convert convert convert). So as an adult I am really about this.

My own schooling made me determined to move near a NON-RELIGIOUS school so my boys wouldn't get all that stuff rammed down my throats... then his 3rd week at school he brings this flamin' leaflet home.

We buy 2nd hand all the time and are careful with money. I've been knitting and making everyone's xmas pressies and have been collecting my children's xmas pressies from charity shops and ebay.

We really really try not to buy plastic tat imported from china.

So, for my family these boxes are wrong on soooo many levels!!

We haven't any shoe boxes handy. I don't want to be told to by new stuff for someone else's kids when my own get 2nd hand.

Lets tell people in other countries that the birth of Jesus is to be celebrated by, er, a box of plastic tat shipped from china to be put in a box and shipped to somewhere else.

But how can I let my son be the only one in the school not to bring a box?

The small print on the leaflet says that the organisers reserve the right to take 'unsuitable' items out and use them for their own charitable purposes... the boxes can only have an elastic band round so they can be filled with religious paraphenalia...

And then they TELL me to put a donation in the envelope!! No way are they having my money as well.

THe boxes end up being slung in a heap in calssrooms or in the entrance over a few days. Unless the boxes are checked in child by child, who's to know if you've donated or not. And if they are checked in, what is the come back? YOu've not bothered, you are not going to be the only one - really can't imagine your boy will be the only one. Ignore, it's all over on the last day of term.

I was just reading the leaflet out to dp and had to laugh - you aren't allowed to put anything of a political nature in but they can stuff it full of religous stuff.

I sort of agree with you catinthehat but ds1 would notice if he is the only one not bringing a box into school.

I might ask a parent of an older child how they collect them in. I suspect they might check them in as the school letter says that 'this year we would like ALL children to take part,

Ooh, don't get me started on this! I'd never heard of Samaritan's Purse until DS brought home the leaflet a couple of years ago. I googled them and didn't like what I found at all. The UK website was all bland, but on the US site there were videos of boxes being distributed and it just made me boak. These boses are definitely a recruiting tool for a rather dubious organisation.

I sent a letter to the school asking them to view the particular video (don't think it's on their site any more) and reconsider having anything to do with it, suggesting perhaps we could do boxes but maybe donate them to women's refuges in this country (for all the children fleeing domestic violence) instead. Got a bland letter back 'reassuring' me that it was all OK. Felt totally patronised. They continue to participate in Operation Christmas Child every year since.

My DS does not take in a shoebox. I explained to him why I didn't want to do it the first year, and he was OK with that. The leaflet comes home every year since then and we ignore it. DS has never even mentioned it, he does not feel he has to participate. I have spread my disquiet to other mothers who are my friends and some of them no longer participate either. It's all we feel we can do.

"this year we would like ALL children to take part" means take up was spotty and will continue to be so this year. You are home & dry, with a little bit of airy explanation to the lad on the lines of "I really must get round to that.. oops too late.. oh well doesn't matter".

Thanks catinthehat (my ds's fave book!!) I feel much better now. will ask a few other mums. We are in one of the smallest houses in the catchment area for this very oversubsrcibed school, so I think a lot of the other families won't even blink at filling the box with (I reckon it would cost at least) £10 of tat.

I was in tears last night at the thought that after moving to a farking building site (no heating no hot water in that coldest winter on record, no bathroom no kitchen and all sleeping in one bedroom for 4 months) to get nearer the non-church school in time for admissions applications last october, I find that my children are being expected to go along with all this.

Dp said last night 'well I wasn't going to tell you but I heard ds1 say to ds2 (age 3) 'we put our hands together like this and pray'. Which I wasn't expecting as its a non church school.

I was wondering if perhaps I'd have been better sending them to the catholic school practially next door to our old house - at least then I'd have known what to expect, after all you are always better off with the devil you know!

Does anyone have links to any other organisations running a similar scheme but without the associated proselytising?

Flibberty, I raised ethical issues re. Operation Christmas Child/SP with ds's (community) school last year. It was too late to backtrack but they are definitely not having anything to do with them again.

So it is entirely possible for schools to be reasonable about this... I think you have to write to the head, citing evidence. (I emailed copies of newspaper articles and pages on their website which makes it clear they are using the boxes to entice Muslim children to their organisation for the purposes of conversion.)

I have nothing against missionaries as such, but do object to this lot being underhand and exploiting children both as donors and recipients. Espcially as in some Islamic countries apostacy is a crime punishable by death!

Oh, I have things against missionaries.

As an extreme example, when i was in California my aunt took me to visit a 'mission', a lovely building and chapel built by catholic priests and missionaries many years ago.

Outside are lots of graves. My aunt (very catholic) cheerfully told me that these are the graves of the native indians that wouldn't convert.

So the priests shot them to save their souls, ie they could not be saved if they continued to worship their own native indian gods, but if they were killed then the priests could pray for them and therefore their souls would be saved.

Mega mega extreme I know, and from a long time ago! But if part of the christian doctrine is to live and let live......

As I said last year, anyone who gets asked to contribute to this particular appeal should first raise objections with the school, then if the school doesn;t immedaitely tell Samaritan's purse to fuck off and make arrangements to distrube the boxes via a more legitimate organisation, tel the school that your DC won't be contributing, end of. Then, if DC want to participate, explain to DC that school has made a silly mistake and chosen a nasty charity, and so let's seek out a nice charity and you can fill a shoebox for a child in need and give it to Rotary or the local domsetic violence unit etc.
Then tell other parents what you are doing, contact the papers, make a big fuss etc.