Send a Child a Christmas Box
Make a child’s Christmas extra special by taking part in a scheme to bring Christmas gifts to children who live in poverty and conflict.
This is an action that needs thinking about in September or October – the boxes need to be ready for collection in November.
Help people throughout the year by providing practical gifts during times of war, disaster, famine, disease and extreme poverty. Practical gifts are distributed to people regardless of their nationality, political or religious background.
Link: www.msrm.org ’love in a box. Call Kelly: 01323 642277, to arrange collection UK wide of 50+ boxes. If you have fewer, still give her a call because you might live near a big collection.
See also: www.samaritanspurse.uk.com
Related actions:
Organise Your Charitable Giving
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taunton, GB , 01 Oct 2005
if you do this one, make sure that what you put IN the shoebox is an ethical gift… locally bought, fairly-traded, eco-friendly, organic (not necessarily all 4!).
no point making some people in the world suffer (now, or in the future) because you aim to make another (child) happy!
i suggest local craft fairs, traidcraft, and the like.
Or get those knitting needles out…!
GB , 02 Oct 2005
don’t forget recycled gifts.
during the year when my children accumulate lovely, but entirely unecessary items i spirit them away and save them for a project in southampton which does a similar thing for children at christmas
03 Oct 2005
Ihave tried to buy from ethically sound companies and choosen some wooden toys and metal toys as opposed to plastic ones.
10 Oct 2005
S’a quite good idea, but I don’t much like Samaritan’s purse so am not signing up for this.
Nottingham, GB , 13 Oct 2005
Our church is organising a collection of boxes this year and has come to an arrangement with a local charity shop who are going to stock little gifts to go in the boxes – so two lots of people will benefit.
GB , 13 Oct 2005
hi joe – just to say MSRM – Mustard Seed Relief Mission is different to Samaritans Purse to the best of my knowledge.
Midhurst, GB , 20 Oct 2005
Our school shoe boxes go to Smile International working in Eastern Europe www.smileinternational.org
31 Oct 2005
I am involved in running a mission working in Sierra Leone, West Africa. We send shoe bags each year filled with practical gifts for the children that receive them such as a drink bottle, small robust toy, school materials etc. Having visited twice now, I know how much such gifts are appreciated!
01 Nov 2005
I love this tradition – it is very special planning what to go into the boxes and thinking about how the child will recieve the gifts.
We organise for this throughout the year, saving our shoe boxes, large chunks of wrapping paper from birthdays and putting aside gifts that my children really don’t need.
It’s very much orchestrated by me, but it’s heartening to see what my children bring when they realise a fifth soft toy or pack of crayons (etc) is needed to complete a box.
We do a mix of reusing what has already come into our house (save the environment) and buying new (generous – especially necessities like toothbrushes, warm hats/gloves).
Kilkenny, IE , 03 Nov 2005
I have heard that Samaritans Purse put pamphlets into the shoe boxes to try and convert! has anyone else heard this? Is it true?
Godalming, GB , 06 Nov 2005
There’s an [url=www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_05113samaritanspurse.shtml. ] article about Samaritan’s Purse [/url]on Ekklesia at the moment(6-11-’05) Among other things it says, “Although no Christian literature is included in the boxes, the charity does separately distribute Christmas stories from the Bible and encourages Bible study in areas where it gives toys out.”
It finishes by saying, “Steve Whaley, of Samaritan’s Purse, said donors to the shoe box scheme were warned that boxes must not include “anything of a political, racial or religious nature”.
He added: “If found, such items are removed. However, because it is Christmas – and in distribution areas where it is culturally appropriate – we do offer, separately, a small booklet of Bible stories in the native language.
‘The booklet is available in approximately half the locations we deliver shoe boxes to.’”
If you are concerned you might find reading the whole article helpful.
10 Nov 2005
We’re trying to get our 3 children to actively participate in this one and chose the items to go in the box – including some of their own stuff and put a letter in with it all.
10 Nov 2005
We’re trying to get our 3 children to actively participate in this one and chose the items to go in the box – including some of their own stuff and put a letter in with it all.
11 Nov 2005
http://www.thesmilesfoundation.org/ send a ‘sack of smiles’ to children in Romania. You can sponsor a sack for £30 or part of a sack for less. They buy all the gifts in Romania, which supports the local economy as well as costing less to transport.
AF , 13 Nov 2005
A group of friends and I do this together and we all collect a few things or give money for items to be bought for the box.It is fun doing this together. We sometimes go and sort the boxes for smaratians purse and this is an eye opener as the variations are amazing. Some boxes are(ethical gift… locally bought, fairly-traded, eco-friendly, organic)and others are not.The children who do this from local schools are generally very privaleged and it makes them think of others who are less fortunate.
01 Dec 2005
Our children did this through school, which inspired them.
19 Dec 2005
We had a lovely open afternoon at our house and invitied friends & relatives to come along with a shoe box.We collected 30 boxes. A friend and I knitted hats & mittens for them all.
22 Dec 2005
I know its too late for this year (2005) and sorry to put a downer on this but I personally wouldn’t do this for kids overseas. It’s not developmentally sound as it merely perpetuates the myth that the rich folk in the “west” (or wherever) will send us gifts. I think if you’re moved to give to kids then it’s better done through a recognised charity or agency working all year round…
22 Dec 2005
I know its too late for this year (2005) and sorry to put a downer on this but I personally wouldn’t do this for kids overseas. It’s not developmentally sound as it merely perpetuates the myth that the rich folk in the “west” (or wherever) will send us gifts. I think if you’re moved to give to kids then it’s better done through a recognised charity or agency working all year round…
28 Jun 2006
I kind of agree noble I am going to do this (for 2006) but I’m giving mine to the domestic violence womens refuge as my daughter was given a gift from them on our first christmas I was so touched I am going to give something back
06 Nov 2006
Have done this with my daughter for the last couple of years. It may not be ‘developmentally sound’ but a gift is a gift, and a source of joy to most (all?) children. It’s been good for my daughter, now three, as a means of understanding a bit more about what life is like for a significant proportion of the world’s children.
Cardiff, GB , 27 Nov 2006
Our church does this and sends them to Romania where we have an ongoing link. We did it properly this year – i.e. I covered two boxes with paper and we filled them with items to correspond with my children’s ages and genders. I noticed when giving them in that there was one there labelled “For a mother aged 25-40”, and so next year I’ll do one like that as well. Wish I’d thought of it this year.