Charity Shoeboxes

[catwoman]

Thanks um for that info, i think as parents we want to instill in our children the best ways to be as a human being and giving to the unfortunate is something we promote in our family, whether its a sandwich to a homeless person on the street and a chat or adopting a pet or helping the elderly down the street when its snowing.

After reading your account on the shoeboxes i was both shocked and surprised. So when my Ds came home from school we sat as a family and discussed the positives and negatives of doing the shoe boxes and left the decision to my Ds.

He concluded that this morning he was going to discuss this issue with his form teacher and hopefully present it in assembly.

I would never have known about the background of these boxes otherwise, thank you.

[Pumpkin Pie]

My DD's school asked for Shoe boxes and also to include £3.00 for transport of the box. Is this the norm?

[hermanmunster]

My DD's school asked for Shoe boxes and also to include £3.00 for transport of the box. Is this the norm?

there is usually a request of £2.50-3.00 for transport / donation etc.
I know. You've spent quite a lot on it.

[kanamm]

http://video.samaritanspurse.org/player ... ches-nepal
Rather unfortunate use of words like "darkness" describing Hinduism in this video.

Both DS and DD had received letter from school regarding shoebox appeal. Used to do it previous years. I am disturbed reading details about the charity on this thread and the earlier thread regarding it and will def not be letting kids do it again. Many more worthy charities around that children can participate in . Pushing religion down others throat slyly is not my idea of charity at all.

[southbucks3]

I don't do the shoe boxes for this charity, as we do boxes for the local "battered wives" retreat. I also have no real religious beliefs, however, the whole fact that the boxes are only given at "Christ"mas is a bit of a clue, the religious festival we all love and celebrate, has no meaning to many of the recipients at all, and many need help all year round.
Our school have participated in the rotary club shoe box appeal before and we did fill boxes then, one each for a family at the time not just the kids, but I think it may be just children again now? I have not searched for any bad press on Google, but it all seems perfectly on the level. Our local rotary club is an amazing fund raiser, and Christmas finds lawyers and doctors dressed as Santa Claus with collecting tins on the local town high street, it is refreshing to see them out of their gloomy dens!

The good part for us, is they provide the boxes...no mix ups on size..and ask for just £2.00 for a donation for transport costs.

Anyway: here is the link, it's nice that they do extra deliveries throughout the year, and also lovely they are helping the orphanages celebrate Christmas, as is their choice. (I know the majority of these struggling eastern European countries no longer have national religion, but those that do hold belief tend to be Christian of some kind).

http://www.rotaryshoebox.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[neveragain*]

The Rucksack project that I mentioned in a thread a while ago is our Christmas/winter charity of choice - being able to see the recipients and to collect the items via charity shops together is a huge plus for us as a family.

[Amber]

As someone up thread said, these things are done in the name of Christ-mas, and perhaps the issue is not so much that attaching a religious message is inappropriate, but that our idea of what Christmas ought to be is the thing which needs to be questioned. People seem to be having trouble with the very idea that religion and Christmas might get lumped together, rather than asking why they are uncomfortable with it. It is now such a materialistic greedfest for many in this country that getting sanctimonious about a bit of religion seems a bit distasteful to me.

Plenty of people are happy to buy into a little religious hypocrisy at Christmas, making the annual token appearance in church because they like singing carols (what a church organist friend of mine calls 'cash customers' as opposed to 'account holders' ) or sending cards with a stable and a manger on - why is this inherently acceptable, almost virtuous, and a charity acting in accordance with its evangelical beliefs isn't?

There are many ways to give to charity as others have said, at Christmas and at other times, but surely a Christian charity acting in the name of Christmas deserves a bit of a break here?

And I say this as an atheist, so no axe to grind.

[talea51]

The shoeboxes that were collected in our area are apparently destined for Rwanda, an area where approximately 65% of the population is Roman Catholic. I'd say that Christmas is probably a big deal for children in that area.

[southbucks3]

The shoeboxes that were collected in our area are apparently destined for Rwanda, an area where approximately 65% of the population is Roman Catholic. I'd say that Christmas is probably a big deal for children in that area.

So that is lovely, and everybody involved should take happiness from their generosity, without worrying about the whys and where fors.

[PROBSNAIVE]

If you watch the official promotion video that Scary Mum attached a link to earlier, you will see that there is lot more to how these boxes are being used than first meets the eye. As described in the video, the boxes are seen as 'tools' to allow the Organisations to get into non-Christian areas. It seems that this is actually a propaganda campaign with the aim of converting non-Christians to Christianity. And not about sharing the joy of Christmas to already Christian areas.
What is distasteful is that they are choosing poor disadvantaged children and gaining their trust with these wonderful boxes filled with goodies, all with the hope/expectation that they will convert to Christianity.
The video itself seems to blame the poverty on Hinduism with a suggestion that Christianity will bring them out of the darkness.
I have blindly contributed to these appeals in the past but would like to thank the forum members who have enlightened me on what this appeal is really about.
How can this be considered charity when those organising expect something in return?