Can someone tell me the purpose of churches sending shoe boxes over seas ?

For the past five years some of the churches in my home town send shoe boxes to under privledged children over seas. I some what understand this but I have a huge problem with it when there are children in this country who are needy also. Shouldn't we take care of our own children before helping others? I don't know about every where else, but here in the county I live in there are an awful lot of precious little ones that have nothing for Christmas and this seems unfair to me. My husband and I were both raised in church and had parents that taught us why christians celebrate Christmas. They also taught us to respect others beliefs and we do. But shouldn't charity start at home? I really hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes. If I am, I am very sorry. I would just really like to hear other opinions on this subject.


For anyone who doesn't know, the shoe boxes are filled with small toys and toiletries.

Can someone tell me the purpose of churches sending shoe boxes over seas ?
the reason children are underprivileged overseas is because we americans have exploited the rest of the worlds resources. giving shoeboxes full of toys is a pretty pathetic gesture to a starving child. the child is starving because we took all of his countrys potatoes to make our hash browns at dennys. maybe we should stop being such greedy imperialists and not rape the world for our own gain. as far as the underprivileged children in america, we have programs like food stamps and afdc to help them. its not my problem if their parents traded all of their food stamps for crack.
Reply:galet
Reply:It's part of the way they bribe third world kids to convert to Christianity.
Reply:there are many many charities here at home that help our underpriveleged. i believe that in the other countries they do not have the resources which is why we offer the outreach. personally i donate primarily to one of my local shelters as well as an overseas organization. it too me a while to grasp the concept becuase i too thought the same thing. i firmly believe that charity does begin at home and i wish some of the celebrities would understand that - it pains me to see adoptions from forgein countries where there are so many children here needing homes too!
Reply:i know where you are coming from.





when i first heard of the shoebox sharity, i do wish they have something similar in singapore too.





my thinking is that because they are an organisation, people know the "what to do". our efforts is minimal (get the shoebox, fill it up and send it off). there will be people to take care of logistics and other stuff.





it can be too much effort if it is being done on a personal scale (i am not saying it is impossible, but it does require more effort and times to reach out to the less privileged).



car makes