At this time of year, children attending schools, youth groups, scouts, etc are sometimes asked to fill a 'shoebox' with donated goods and toys, for what is allegedly a charity called "Operation Christmas Child" or "Samaritan's Purse Appeal". You should be aware that it's a scam, and parents should give it a wide berth. The scheme is a front for a project to convert children to an ultra-fundamentalist form of Christianity pushed by Franklin Graham (son of Billy Graham). The boxes are stuffed with propaganda leaflets and are then used for proselytise a particularly unpleasant brand of biblical literalism. Those promoting the scheme, including schools, often aren't at all upfront about this – meaning children and parents up and down the country are tricked into being the unwitting foot soldiers of a fundamentalist child evangelism project.
The level of religious screwball antics seems to be turned up to 11 on all sides of the fence at the moment.
By the way, if anyone wants to encourage their child to contribute to a real, genuine charity at Xmas time they could consider this: Oxfam Unwrapped Charity Gifts - Oxfam GB
Pete, Quite right to warn everyone. But, they are not the only "shoebox" charity in operation. Concerned that I may have inadvertantly been hood winked into funding intolerant religous extremists when my kids were at primary school, i did a little digging. Their school still does a shoebox scheme, but it's run by Rotary, and asserts no religous or political affiliation and goes to Eastern Europe. I'm comfortable with that.
Loads of schools do these, and they want beans and bobs to fill them. Not sure why that is such a heinous crime...and Oxfam spend more on marketing and wages than relief btw
Just drawing this item to your attention again, if I may. The scam is still in operation, apparently.
Please forgive me for bumping this thread. It's that time of the year, and these fraudsters are having another go this year apparently.
It would seem so reading the first post, we used to these every year for the school SigOth works at, they haven’t run it for a few years now.
Be careful who you give to. My best friend has within his family a gene that can lead to mental instability in later life. His mother died of it and his sister spent years caring for her in the knowledge that she or her children could end up the same way. When the symptoms started to appear at first she was in denial but she became increasingly unstable. Eventually she committed suicide but not before in one of her more unstable moments walking into an Oxfam shop and signing over her house and all her assets to Oxfam, completely disinheriting her 2 children. My friend was her executor and challenged Oxfam on the validity of the will she had signed in their favour (on the grounds of not being of sound mind), not because he was going to be a beneficiary but because he wanted to protect/help his nephews and neices. Oxfam's reaction was "see you in court" - not a very charitable position to take given the known effects of the disease and the outcome.
The Trustees of a charity (if it is a legitimate one) have strict legal obligations and duties to apply the funds they receive to the objectives of the charity - in the case of Oxfam, feeding the hungry. They would be failing in their duty if they instead handed donated monies back to the donors. A will can be overturned only by the court, not by executors, beneficiaries or claimants, and even then only on limited grounds. From what you have said, the Trustees position was 100% correct, proper, and legal.
Not again Pete! Just for one Christmas, how about giving it a rest? Most of these schemes appear to be run by bona fide charities. Young kids get to think about giving to others less fortunate than themselves. Others may receive a few bits and bobs their parent's can't afford. Where's the harm? I don't really give a monkeys if some are run by religious organisations. By all means do due diligence, but don't tar them all with the same brush.
