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I'm interested to know if they had a list of things, which they would not accept, prominently displayed ; If not, shame on them.

I'm, also, interested if this a new development or one that is arbitrary because I certainly remember nothing besides makeup and weapons being listed as unsuitable when the local schools (I live in Canada) did this and because World Vision lets you send "magical things", without issue, to their children.

Our local Christmas toy drive has two lists notably posted, what they DON'T accept and what they really recommend you give: Weapons and makeup can be big no-nos for even non-religious parents; There's nothing wrong with giving Barbie's Dreamhouse morally but it's a logistical nightmare to get it to the kids since a whole household's worth of toys is put in one sack and volunteers might not be able to fit it in or even lift the full bag; Expensive toys seem nice since Mom and Dad can't afford them but electronic toys usually require other things which are out of the family's budget (The family might not even have a TV to play that Playstation on).

Funny enough, I still see ALOT of Harry Potter and Pokemon things in the boxes, right alongside the Frozen and Star Wars stuff; We could have easily found homes for those toys.

Since this has been mentioned a few times: we DO NOT KNOW what happened to the items they deemed inappropriate for children. *Maybe* they destroyed the items, and maybe they donated them to a different charity. The article doesn't state which, so getting upset over speculating what might have happened to the toys is pretty pointless, IMO.

I will say that *if* they did destroy those gifts, I would be just as disapproving as many others would be. But as it is, I don't know, so I'm withholding judgement.

It's like almost embarrassing to admit you are a Christian when people like THESE IDIOTS do this stupid crap.....>_>

I did some post-reading-this-article research; This is lifted directly from the Samaritan's Purse website:

Do Not Include
Used or damaged items; war-related items such as toy guns, knives, or military figures; chocolate or food; out-of-date candy; liquids or lotions; medications or vitamins; breakable items such as snow globes or glass containers; aerosol cans.

Below this is an FAQ on what can or cannot be put into the box: I saw no mention whatsoever of Harry Potter or Pokemon, or magical stuff in general, not being allowed.

There is , however, a section where you can buy things, World Vision-style, which includes "train & equip an evangelist", "gospel booklets", "bibles".

This seems to be an organization which exists to proselytize as much as do good: They do so much but I, learning about this, am honestly turned off by them.

I would rather donate to World Vision: It's a Christian organization, as well, but, after years of dealing with them, they come across as more committed to delivering the message of Jesus through acts than words; I am a Christian and I would rather all money be spent on giving children life-saving and life-improving medication, clothing, education, than bloody worrying about whether or not they have found Jesus.

I found a video where a rep from Samaritan's Purse listed off some things from the list above but then said that the list of inappropriates was re-evaluated every year; I'm curious as to all what they consider inappropriate and why the list is not available to the public.

With just about everything you have to take the good with the bad it's absolutely fantastic that they gave more then two million shoe boxes filled with toys to children in need this year but they nit picked and didn't donate everything they received I'm sure more then just Harry Potter and Pokemon got excluded which might have made a child very happy but that doesn't make them bad people they did the best with what they had and at the end of the day it's the smile on those faces come Christmas morning that is really important!

I honestly don't see an issue with them denying or removing certain items from their donations after all it's a charity, unless they get really ridiculous go out and find the person who donated said removed item and beat them senseless with a bible all while screaming unprovoked or seriously screwed up insults then there would be a problem but then again no one's That crazy in america right? my only question is did they replace the removed items with something else so as to make sure the numbers pan out alright when they were distributed

Tanteikingdomkey wrote:

Harry potter I can kind of understand since some people are sensitive to stuff like that...but I can't think of a christian or catholic who has a problem with pokemon.

There was that incident in Colorado Springs shortly after Pokémon became popular where this pastor claimed that Pokémon is the work of Satan, with one adult speaking up to say that her child's Pikachu toy made her car antenna stand up. The parents took their kids' Pokémon toys, video games, and cards and burned them in a big fire.

That was at least 15 years ago though. I didn't know there was still that kind of controversy today. Heck, it went all the way up to Pope John Paul II, who made a statement that there is nothing inherently wrong about Pokémon as a franchise, and if anything, is doing good by encouraging socialization among children.

RenimLS wrote:

As for charities destroying stuff, yeah that happens. My father was extremely pissed when he had some brand new unused light fixtures (we had renovation done, but never used these lights so they were extra) and went down to one of the charities in our area. He asked if they take them, and they said they did. After he finished the paperwork and returned out to their unloading area he found them chucking the light fixtures into a dumpster for disposal, most of them were shattered and unrecoverable. He vowed to never donate to them again.

Having worked at a donation center, the proper thing to do is to say no in the first place. A person who accepts donated items should know what the organization is or is not allowed to take. Fixtures like what your father donated are not acceptable donations. The reason is because they have loose wiring, which is an electrical hazard if unsupervised children are nearby (or careless people in general).

The more common problem I see is that the donors take offense at having their donations rejected and try to find any reason they can to give it anyway, putting up a fight until they run out of arguments. Sometimes, they will quietly sneak by and put it there.

Having said that, if someone who works there says yes, the donation center is required to take it. The one that I've worked at has its phone at the cashier counter in the store, far away from the donation center, and we have had the occasional cashier say yes to things that we're not actually supposed to take (or that we didn't have the room for it). It sounds like with your case, your father got someone from an unrelated department who, rather than redirecting the call or asking someone (which is what they're supposed to do), just said yes. Due to this sort of thing (and it happens annoyingly often), I recommend going over there yourself and asking someone at the donation center, because that'll get you the best chance at getting correct information.

mangamuscle wrote:

The very fact that it is not stated in an official statement (in their website, twitter, facebook, etc.) begs the question, why would not they be lying? If they were upfront from the start saying "Don't bring toys from x, y and z series" there would not be place for doubt, but maybe they are doing this on purpose, since in their minds they are righteous for destroying heretical toys. From a logistics point of view, it is easier to have a big sign with big letters saying what will not be accepted, than having workers check tons of boxes.

That would be a logical thing to do, wouldn't it? My guess: They didn't want to admit that they were siphoning off their own donations to another organization. They might think it makes them look bad.

CandisWhite wrote:

I'm interested to know if they had a list of things, which they would not accept, prominently displayed ; If not, shame on them.

In general, these are the items most donation organizations will not take and why:
• Infant equipment (strollers, high chairs, baby seats, cribs, walkers, etc.) - Some states have a liability issue where the donation organization may be sued if a baby is injured through a donated item, even through misuse of defect-free items.
• Mattresses and boxsprings (sometimes futons) - The U.S. Health Department considers them hazardous waste.
• Syringes and hypodermic needles - Hazardous waste.
• Medicines and dietary supplements - Low but significant chance of contamination.
• Electrical fictures - Loose wiring (as I explained above)
• Rugs and carpets - Folded up corners are tripping hazards.
• Heaters and radiators - Fire hazards.
• Anything with broken glass - Sharp edges.
• Gas tanks, including depleted ones - Explosive hazards.
• Anything gas-powered - Explosive hazards.
• Large appliances (washing machines, dryers, full-size refrigerators, stoves, ovens, dishwashers, etc.) - I'm not entirely sure of the reason behind this one.
• Knives except kitchenware - Sharp edges.
• Chainsaws - Sharp edges
• Firearms and other weapons - You could hurt someone with them!
• Pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and other killing sprays - They're poisonous.
• Aerosol cans - Explosive hazards.
• Opened cosmetics - Health hazard; illegal to resell in the United States.
• Bootleg items - Illegal to sell in the United States.

You'll have to check if the organization can take food or not if you want to donate it; accepting food requires a different license that not all of them have.

As for toys, most do not have a problem with the toys' subject matter the way this one does and will accept any toy as long as it's not heavily damaged or dirty (hence why some, like Toys for Tots, insist on toys with their original labeling and/or packaging, though with that, they also want to avoid bootleg toys).

pokemon is satanic and you know it Twisted Evil

Last edited by GracieLizzy on Sat Dec 19, 2015 9:00 am; edited 1 time in total

Torrin wrote:

Some of the above posts really irked me in a bad way.

I know some people are going to freak out about religion and condemn this charity and paint them in an extremely negative light. However this is a charity simply not giving away toys they or people who may receive them deem inappropriate. Some will say they aren't being tolerant but they are really just not participating in something they don't want to. From what I can tell they don't want to ban these toys. It's actually the ones who condemn this charity that are being intolerant.

For what it's worth Operation Christmas Child is trying to do something good. What have you, the ones who are making posts about children not getting toys they want or mocking them for not giving away pokemon toys, done for someone this Christmas? Maybe it's time to look in the mirror rather than belittle a charity on ANN forums.

Except if you do some digging you begin to find out that Samaritans Purse actually has a rather bad reputation for using the shoeboxes as conversion tools on children of other faiths. Or at least they've been accused of doing such.

https://usvsth3m.com/post/we-expose-the-anti-gay-marriage-organisation-using-uk-school-kids-to-convert-non-believers

http://humanistlife.org.uk/2015/10/14/why-parents-shouldnt-support-operation-christmas-child/

I personally have issues with the charity and have stopped giving to them, I used to until I learned a lot of the above information. Now it could be argued that this is from a biased source, given one of the above sites is Humanist in nature and most Humanists are Atheists but other Christians have had issues with Samaritans Purse and Franklin Graham before, for example this article by a Church of England vicar. There's even been accusations of them converting Catholic children in El Salvador to Graham's version of Evangelical Christianity rather than Catholicism.

Now it could be that these accusations are not true but they look strong enough to me for me to withdraw my support for them. I bring this up mostly to highlight that if these accusations do have truth to them some may argue that they aren't really "just doing something good". But ultimately it's up to the individual to decide that.

I chose to give toys to an alternative toy drive my workplace was supporting this year and some food to a foodbank my workplace was also supporting. Funnily enough one of the items I gave was actually Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

EDIT: Fixed incorrect link

Is anyone surprised? Seriously find a different non-profit charity organization to donate to. This one's run by Franklin Graham; a guy who outside of some pretty nasty comments about Islam takes in $620,000 a year running this organization alone (he also runs another, putting his annual income around 1 million).Source Samaritan's purse has also donated to anti-gay laws in the past. Also this very year they closed all accounts with Wells Fargo because they dared air ads featuring same sex couples.

Better off just giving to needy families in your own community than supporting an organization that politicizes giving during the holidays.

I can also assume that they removed all Star Wars items, considering that the series features incest, dismemberment, genocide and eastern religion philosophy from kung fu monks with mental powers.

Desslok wrote:

I can also assume that they removed all Star Wars items, considering that ...

You could have just said that it is legally considered a religion in many parts of the world. Also, Elsa from Frozen is a witch. Don't remember but at least one of the ponies in MLP also uses magic. The list is like the energizer bunny, it keeps going and going and ...

GracieLizzy wrote:

There's even been accusations of them converting Catholic children in El Salvador to Graham's version of Evangelical Christianity rather than Catholicism.

This is quite sad if true, evangelization no longer about going to Africa, it is about stealing from other christian religions. -_-;

leafy sea dragon wrote:

That would be a logical thing to do, wouldn't it? My guess: They didn't want to admit that they were siphoning off their own donations to another organization. They might think it makes them look bad.

The word "siphoning" made me think, heck, are we sure they are selling some of these toys on ebay? Since this seems to be a very profit driven organization.

mangamuscle wrote:

GracieLizzy wrote:

There's even been accusations of them converting Catholic children in El Salvador to Graham's version of Evangelical Christianity rather than Catholicism.

This is quite sad if true, evangelization no longer about going to Africa, it is about stealing from other christian religions. -_-;

I would say it is bad to try and do this to anyone of any faith, not just other Christians. I merely bring it up because them targeting Muslim children is the most widely reported accusations. It's one thing if a person makes an informed choice to convert to another religion or to no religion but it is quiet another for them to be blackmailed into it by missionaries offering toys.

I read the name of the organization as 'Satan's Purse' Very Happy

Last edited by v1cious on Sat Dec 19, 2015 4:25 pm; edited 6 times in total

I thought we all knew that Pokemon World is a world of the demonic

TamenishDragon wrote:

According to Christianity, magic is borrowing the power of demons, and as such, witches and warlocks were said to worship demons. (Note that Christianity considers most if not all pagan gods to be demons if they exist)

I always found this comical, since most of the people that say that have Christmas trees in their house (a Pagan tradition). Me and my mom almost got into a fight over that one Laughing

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