Views on 'Operation Christmas Child'

Cassiopeia1

In light of recent controversy surrounding 'Operation Christmas Child', run by the Samaritan's Purse, should we still support it? Can anyone confirm if the religious literature is infact placed in the boxes? I thought it was such a lovely idea until I heard of it's assocation with Franklin Graham :mad:.

January

Maybe some links to the news items on it would be nice? As I haven't heard of anything yet.

Nevyn

IF you want to help donate towards children who need some christmas cheer then tbh
support santa strike force, which is ran by boards.ie each year.

http://www.santastrikeforce.com
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=128871

tallaght01

Yea but operation christmas child helps kids in developing countries.

The issue was that some people claimed they were putting in religious leaflets into the boxes, and were using them as bargaining chips to make the kids take religious books etc.

The long and short of it seems to be that they're a christian organisation. The American branch seems to be pretty evangelical alright. But the Irish wing operates on it's own in about 12 countries, and does not put religious material into their boxes.

Personally, I think it's a great idea. It makes Irish kids aware of the developing world, and it teaches them to give.

There;s a good debate about it on a recent Joe Duffy show. So, make up your own minds I guess. But I'll probably put a few boxes together for them this xmas.

http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2009/pc/pod-v-071009-30m45s-livelineshoeboxappeal.mp3

byhookorbycrook

big article on this in the INTO mag this month.

irishma

Samaritans Purse deals clearly with the inaccuracies in the INTO article on their website www.samaritanspurse.ie

Splendour

I have been involved with the shoeboxes for a few years (our church is a depot for the boxes) and we have never ever put any Christian literature in the boxes. We showed a video in the church last week of some of the kids receiving their boxes and it brought a tear to many an eye in the church...

Please please believe me when I say that the intention of the boxes is to give underprivileged children a present and not to 'convert' them to to Christianity. There is no underlying agenda involved and anyone is than more than welcome to come along and help with sorting the boxes as we get hundreds of boxes that need sorting! The reason they need to be sorted is to make sure there are no 'war toys' involved and to also to 'pad out' the boxes if necessary ( we buy sweets and sometimes get toothpaste or toys given by some companies).

There were 8 million boxes sent out last year through Samaritans purse. This means that 8 million children received a present they would otherwise not receive...

Yes Samaritans purse is a Christian organisation and they are merely doing what Christains should do and that is, love thy neighbour and there aren't many of us who would argue with that!

Honestly folks, that is all we wish to do.Come along and see for youselves- extra hands are always more than welcome!!!

Cassiopeia1

Thank for all comments/responses. I placed this thread out of concern that we, the charitable people of Ireland are being hoodwinked into donating money to a ‘cult’ type organisation, such as the evangelists, represented by Franklin Graham. My heart bleeds every time I see a Concern ad., or a child crying…..anywhere! My gut instinct is to try and make it better. I would hate to think that my own empathy was being used against me, in the form of manipulation.Unfortunately I am beginning to believe it is. Who can resist giving a poor child a gift? Our family have participated for the past two years in Operation Christmas Child. Over the past few days I have taken a lot of time to ‘google’ the international sites and articles for and against OCC.Now,having read what I've read, I really feel cheated.
I don’t believe that the questions posed by the author of the ‘In Touch’ article have been sufficiently addressed by The Samaritans'purse.
For example,
- what do OCC Ireland mean by “ we deliberately use terminology that people in Ireland can understand”. We speak the same language as they do stateside, why does it need to be adapted for the Irish?
- while OCC Ireland say that they agree with the Code of Conduct, why have they not signed-up to it?
- also, “no shoeboxes or cash from Ireland are involved in the discipleship programmes she (author) mentions”. So where is the cash coming from?
One of the most startling quotes from the article in ‘In Touch’ was from Graham himself, in which he states that OCC is “one of the most effective evangelistic tools we have. Right now tens of thousands of children..are involved in evangelistic Bible lessons that began with a shoebox gift and may soon lead to their salvation”. This is a man who believes that all left-wingers are going to ‘burn in hell’ along with those of the Islamic faith, gay people etc.
The bottom line is The Samaritans Purse runs OCC and OCC Ireland comes under that umbrella.
If anyone can tell me otherwise I would be thrilled, otherwise I’ll keep my money for Concern.

One last quote from the international website;


Under Promotional Ideas, the OCC website states:
“The cost of Operation Christmas Child including processing, transportation, and the production of Gospel literature is much more than the $5 we ask people to enclose with each shoe box.”



I TRUELY do not mean to offend anyone,particularly those who work voluntarily for charity. I am a volunteer myself.

bridgitt

Cassiopeia1 wrote: »

Over the past few days I have taken a lot of time to ‘google’ the international sites and articles for and against OCC.Now,having read what I've read, I really feel cheated.
I don’t believe that the questions posed by the author of the ‘In Touch’ article have been sufficiently addressed by The Samaritans'purse.
For example,
- what do OCC Ireland mean by “ we deliberately use terminology that people in Ireland can understand”. We speak the same language as they do stateside, why does it need to be adapted for the Irish?
- while OCC Ireland say that they agree with the Code of Conduct, why have they not signed-up to it?
- also, “no shoeboxes or cash from Ireland are involved in the discipleship programmes she (author) mentions”. So where is the cash coming from?
One of the most startling quotes from the article in ‘In Touch’ was from Graham himself, in which he states that OCC is “one of the most effective evangelistic tools we have. Right now tens of thousands of children..are involved in evangelistic Bible lessons that began with a shoebox gift and may soon lead to their salvation”. This is a man who believes that all left-wingers are going to ‘burn in hell’ along with those of the Islamic faith, gay people etc.
The bottom line is The Samaritans Purse runs OCC and OCC Ireland comes under that umbrella.

I agree with you there. How would we feel if we were a very poor country ( with a Christian heritage and culture ) , and muslim missionaries came here handing out gifts and leaflets at the end of ramadan ? If you were a poor Christian parent, struggling to provide for your children, and your children were getting seduced by the colourful comercially made gifts from people who wanted to spread islam here, how would you like that ? I think gifts, children and religion should be kept seperate.

LegacyUser

Cassiopeia1 wrote: »

In light of recent controversy surrounding 'Operation Christmas Child', run by the Samaritan's Purse, should we still support it? Can anyone confirm if the religious literature is in fact placed in the boxes? I thought it was such a lovely idea until I heard of it's association with Franklin Graham :mad:.

I wanted you to know that Samaritan's Purse does NOT add literature to the shoe box gifts. The gifts come from all over the country, packed by thousands of people like yourself and they are viewed as personal gifts from the shoe box donor to a child. The "integrity of the shoebox" is highly regarded. Yes, Samaritan's Purse is a Christian organization, and yes, they will be delivered by like minded people in the receiving countries. Children do hear about the love of God for them and are offered a gospel booklet in their own language in places where it is legal to do so. Please visit www.samaritanspurse.org for more information about Operation Christmas Child and the other good work that Samaritan's Purse does domestically and around the world.

StillWaters

blj616 wrote: »

I wanted you to know that Samaritan's Purse does NOT add literature to the shoe box gifts. The gifts come from all over the country, packed by thousands of people like yourself and they are viewed as personal gifts from the shoe box donor to a child. The "integrity of the shoebox" is highly regarded. Yes, Samaritan's Purse is a Christian organization, and yes, they will be delivered by like minded people in the receiving countries. Children do hear about the love of God for them and are offered a gospel booklet in their own language in places where it is legal to do so. Please visit www.samaritanspurse.org for more information about Operation Christmas Child and the other good work that Samaritan's Purse does domestically and around the world.

I presume you are involved with this organisation? Are they offered this gospel booklet at the same time they receive the shoe box?

I lobbied my school to not support this group, rather others with no religious agenda such as http://www.hearttohand.net/shoeboxappeal.html

LadyMayBelle

Just FYI blj616, Team Hope is now the main group running the shoebox project, having chosen to separate themselves from Samaritan's Purse International.

From their website:

Best known for our Christmas Shoebox Appeal, we started as Samaritan’s Purse in 1999. TEAM HOPE is now completely Irish and independent, and as well as running the Christmas Shoebox appeal also works in community development projects in twelve countries, mainly in Africa, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

From my ten years involved, both in Ireland and on the receiving end, there was never any religious literature put into any of the boxes. There was one occasion I experienced where we visited a local church, and the twenty of so children of the families who attended the church were offered 'the Christmas Story' kids book; something in my opinion isn't unusual in any sunday school! There is NEVER condition that that have to take that before getting a box.

Daisy M

bridgitt wrote: »

I agree with you there. How would we feel if we were a very poor country ( with a Christian heritage and culture ) , and muslim missionaries came here handing out gifts and leaflets at the end of ramadan ? If you were a poor Christian parent, struggling to provide for your children, and your children were getting seduced by the colourful comercially made gifts from people who wanted to spread islam here, how would you like that ? I think gifts, children and religion should be kept seperate.

I agree it should be kept separate but if I were raising my children in such terrible poverty I would gladly accept anything that would bring them a little bit of happiness. As I said I do not agree with the literature but it is very easy for people here to take a moral highground and refuse to donate shoeboxes because of it, but who ends up losing out, its not the religious groups thats for sure they will find an alternative way to get their message through.

Orion

Astra: there are alternative ways to support poverty stricken children such as the one StillWaters links to above. I will never support any organisation that uses other people's donations to spread the christian myth.

There is also Rothar, Bothar, Camara and many, many others who are not religious based. Bothar run a big Christmas campaign but all need help all year round. Charity is not just for Christmas...

Daisy M

Orion wrote: »

Astra: there are alternative ways to support poverty stricken children such as the one StillWaters links to above. I will never support any organisation that uses other people's donations to spread the christian myth.

There is also Rothar, Bothar, Camara and many, many others who are not religious based. Bothar run a big Christmas campaign but all need help all year round. Charity is not just for Christmas...

Do you seriously think I am unaware of these other charities? Or that I only give to charity at christmas? You are really jumping to silly conclusions. The shoebox appeal is done through our local schools it is for me an extra way of donating that I may not actually have gone out of my way to do had the request not came through the school. So if I were to get on my high horse about the possibility of some religious pamplets been handed out 3 children would miss out on the only gift they could have received. I am a christian but thankfully I am not biased against any religious organisation which helps people living in poverty. All of the charities you mentioned do fantastic work but that does not take away from or make them better than others, if you look hard enough you will find rot in any organisation.