Samaritan's Purse shoeboxes - alternatives?

[luckyblackcat]

There have been several threads on mumsnet re this appeal.

There were some fairly negative assertions made, links to their own website etc which generally gave the impression (to me anyway) that only children who were of Christian religion would benefit from the donations.

Also a poster came on and said her DC had been in a private day nursery, for children of working professionals (so reasonably well off) and the boxes were distributed there - which is obviously not the point of them at all (again imho).

Last year my DC school did a box appeal, but not SP. This year they are doing SP.

I want to inform the school of this, but would like to be able to say, "But this charity are multi-faith and will give to needy DC regardless" It is not a faith school and there are many different religions represented in the cohort.

So please, wise mumsnetters, help me out...

Day nursery mentioned not in UK btw, just to be clearer.

Rotary shoebox scheme

I am not THAT keen on Rotary but I don't believe there has ever been a corruption scandal or evangelising scandal associated with them (am willing to be corrected) and as far as I know they will give out a shoebox whether or not the child involved wears black tie and attends lengthy ceremonial dinners with speeches.

Ooh, I nearly posted the same question last week but was worried I was being unreasonable The leaflet we were given says they will give the boxes to children in need regardless of their background or beliefs, and then in the next paragraph goes on to say they will also give a booklet of bible stories. Which doesn't seem at all respectful to any beliefs those children already have. It all just grates with me.

Yep - our school are doing Rotary shoebox scheme after some parents wanted some not related to a religion

Several people have mentioned Marys meals and their backpack scheme as a good alternative

Thank you and LOL @ 'attends lengthy ceremonial dinners'

as far as i'm aware, the samaritan's purse is run by and distributed by christians, but the pressents go to anyone who needs them, not just christians.

there's a thing on the form that states you're not allowed to put anything religiously symbolic in there.

they're just using christmas as a time for giving, rather than making them believe in christmas as the birth of christ.

it seems we're generally more giving and kind at christmas.

the website says:

"Operation Christmas Child is the UK's largest children's Christmas appeal and has been running for over 19 years. Thanks to a huge army of volunteers who give their time to help make this Christmas 'miracle' come to life, we are able to deliver gift-filled shoeboxes to children in Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

We work with local churches and charities overseas to ensure that your shoebox gets delivered by hand to children who need it most. Our approach is to give shoeboxes to children in need, regardless of their background or beliefs.

Where it's appropriate our local partners also make available to children a booklet of Bible stories, including the original Christmas story - the birth of Jesus."

so Drusilla pointed this out - it's only where appropriate

From what I have read Samaritan's Purse take a strong but reasonably orthodox evangelical Christian line that the Bible and Christian salvation is an essential to an individual soul, just as food is essential to the individual body. Therefore I don't blame them for doing what they can to evangelise people. But they will not get a penny of my money.

'where appropriate' - which means what, exactly??

I think that the children have to sign up for a course on Samaritans Purse highly evangelical Billy Graham brand of Christianity if they accept a box.

I feel it is deeply disturbing to give a gift with strings. Many of the children are Muslim, go read what The Grahams say about them, not pleasant.

Aid should never be given with conditions attached.
I believe that the leaflets have to say the boxes will not contain Christian material because SP broke a great many Human Right conventions by doing just that.

I am feeling quite miffed! As an atheist I am not too happy that the shoe boxes might be conditional. We give the boxes unconditionally, they should be received unconditionally.
NB i do celebrate xmas - just see it as a time to make the effort with family etc...

try this : OCC alert

I'm an evangelical Christian and I won't give to Samaritans Purse in any guise ..... their MO is just not right.

Mary's Meals here are what our school gives to - I like this!

Thank you all for you help, weegiemum I am going to send your link to our head to help support me in my bid to change our charity for next Christmas. She may remember the organisation, which was in our county, that did our last years one.

I also realise, having done a search, that I have been dreadfully tiresome and there were already a multitude of recent threads not beem around much recently. I offer my sincere apols

I will give my boxes this yr, as my DC enjoyed it last year and we have already nearly filled 4 boxes they have given up loads of bits of unused crap stationery etc which is better for me them than just buying it.

In my OP I was referring to threads I had seen in previous years, not recently I meant to add.

They are quite clear on their aim of conversion

"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 think Mary's Meals are an excellent charity to support.

You could also try www.supportoursoldiers.co.uk/SOSChristmasParcels2009HomePage.html if you want to send parcels to people who might not otherwise get anything at Christmas and who are far from home in often dangerous conditions.

[crossposted from an earlier topic, as this one is more recent...]

I listen to children read at my kid's school, and was lucky enough to be in school when the lady from Operation Christmas Child came in to present the shoebox campaign in Assembly. She expalained to the children that here in the UK, most of us are blessed with more toys, treats and essentials than we need, yet in some parts of the world, children go without. Sending a shoebox is a powerful way of saying that we care, and making one child, somewhere, feel loved.

She then explained carefully and clearly what was suitable to pack into a shoebox. She stressed that we didn't need to spend a lot of money - a lot of small items are inexpensive, or even free (eg, MacDonald's Happy Meal toys, etc). She said that if children weren't able to give a whole shoebox themselves, they could always contribute something that could be packed into another box. That way, everyone has the opportunity to give, no matter how much or how little you can afford.

Personally, I collect small bits and pieces all the year around, and save them up until November. That way, I can make the most of special offers and giveaways, and fill a shoebox without feeling I am overspending. I am pleased to pay for items like toothpaste and sweets as it is a way of giving to someone who wouldn't normally enjoy those things.

I would urge everyone to spread a little love around at Christmas time, whether they consider themselves Christian or not. It's a great way to teach our kids to share, too.

Read this www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/Newsletter/
My Daughter's School have just decided to ditch them.

• Amnon

Hello, I'm looking into the whole issue of Samaritan's Purse for the Guardian and keen to hear from posters on this thread - anonymously if preferred. Please email me at [email protected]
Polly

The accounts for Samaritan's Purse UK for 2006 show a turn over in excess of £22 million..[29] Of this total, £1.3 million were disbursed on relief and aid projects with the balance spent on promotion and operations associated with the evangelical project Operation Christmas Child.

That's not a lot spent on aid and an awful lot spent on proseletysing.

I've posted this on another thread too, as I think it indicates Samaritan's Purse priorities very clearly.

Sorry, taken from Wikipedia.

Can I please second the appeal sending a shoebox overseas to soldiers. I suspect it is is not that popular among non military families (only that it is not something I feel gets a lot of publicity) and in the light of all the debates re the job our soldiers do and how they are so poorly treated seems a very good cause.

I also do not give to SP - I disliked what I read about them 2 years so. I give to a charity called link romania.

Info about the charity generally:

www.linkromania.co.uk/about-link-romania

Please can I give them a plug. They work with some of the poorest people in Romania, Moldovia etc. They have several ventures that run all year round - soup kitchens, sponsoring families etc. They are a very small charity but I feel do a great job. I really had n't realised how destitute and near to not surviving some families are (I am talking living on gruel in unheated stone huts etc).

With them you do shoeboxes but it is for the whole family - often parents, kids, grandparents etc all living together in one freezing room so the idea is to give a bit of cheer to all. When I have read some of the stories about how over the moon they are when they basically receive what we consider to be hardly anything it is really heart breaking but good at the same time.

Here is main index about the shoe box appeal which links to other pages about how to get involved (where it says registration closed it means for people that act as the centre points for collecting in the shoe boxes not for those that want to make up and give the shoe boxes):

www.linkromania.co.uk/shoebox-appeal

If you want any more info please get in touch - there is lots of info on their website.

stressed2007, thank you very much for the romanian link, i will investigate it forthwith! i feel deeply uncomfortable about the samaritan's purse outfit, and having read this thread and some of the links i have raised the matter with my kids' school, who are looking into it.
just to let you all know - we were really keen to send a parcel or two to forces overseas but when i contacted our local 'support our soldiers' representative she said that they were absolutely inundated with parcels and could not deal with any more! which is great, in that clearly people really have the armed forces in their minds at the moment, but means i was back to the drawing-board - so i will look into the romanian option now. thanks again.

that is great news - they are a very small outfit but they do manage to do a lot of good work.

SAMARITAN'S PURSE IS A NON-PROFIT, CHRISTIAN ORGANISATION PROVIDING CHURCH SUPPORT AND EMERGENCY RELIEF AND DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE TO THE VICTIMS OF WAR, FAMINE, NATURAL DISASTER, AND DISEASE, WITH THE AIM OF DEMONSTRATING GOD'S LOVE TO ALL AND SHARING THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS CHRIST.

Just because it is a Christian charity people seem to be taking offense. They make no secret as to who they are or what they are about. It can be plainly seen from this statement taken from the charity commission website. The majority of their spending is charitable (again see the charity commission website). They do very good work by taking relief to disaster areas and presents to poor children. No-one is forced to support them but please stop attacking them just because they may not agree with your worldview. Those of us who are Christians have a relationship with our Lord and Savious Jesus Christ which we believe is important to share with everybody (not just the poor). If people don't want to know, that's fine, but there's nothing wrong with helping people find meaning in their life, especially if there's not a lot else to enjoy because of poverty or disaster.