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By Lailani Mendoza
COMPLAINTS that came from a handful of parents last
year continue to keep students in Central Okanagan School District from
offering much-needed gifts to children who won’t otherwise receive
any at Christmas.
In October 2007, School District 23 received complaints
about Operation Christmas Child (OCC), saying it shouldn’t be part of
the public school system – as it was not deemed appropriate for all
students.
The Central Okanagan School District includes public
schools in Kelowna, Westbank, Winfield, Peachland and Oyama.
Operation Christmas Child is a charitable project
distributing gifts in shoeboxes during the holidays, to children in
developing countries.
It operates under Samaritan’s Purse, a
nondenominational Christian organization that provides physical and
spiritual aid to people in need all over the world.
Moyra Baxter, School District 23’s chair, said
the parents who objected – and local representatives of OCC –
attended board of education meetings to express their perspective on
the issue.
The fact that Operation Christmas Child represented a
religious organization became a major issue for the parents.
“The main point the parents made was that public
schools in British Columbia must not promote any single creed or
doctrine,” said Baxter.
The parents cited a quotation from Franklin
Graham, president and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse.
Graham wrote: “Our outreach to these children and
their families may begin with a shoebox gift; but our ultimate goal is to
open doors to share the good news of Jesus Christ, and to open hearts to
receive him as Lord and Saviour.’”
But despite the restriction on religious organizations,
the school district’s approved list includes World Vision – a
Christian relief organization, much like Samaritan’s Purse.
The complaints resulted in a policy that specifies
criteria for agencies and organizations, governing what public schools can
participate in, as approved by the superintendent. Called Policy 731:
Community Service and Fundraising by Schools, the policy states, under the
Guiding Principles section, that to be approved, programs should be
“appropriate to a pluralistic public education setting.”
Some people have the mistaken notion that OCC workers
insert religious materials in the shoeboxes before they’re given out.
This isn’t true, said Michael Ulrich, communications officer for
Operation Christmas Child.
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“People feel that we automatically include a
Christian booklet, and we make sure that it is in each of the boxes. We try
as much as we can to educate people that that’s not the case at all.
The boxes are given regardless of what religion is practiced in the
country. The boxes are always given out without any connection to a
specific piece of Christian literature.”
A child-friendly booklet that talks about salvation,
called The Greatest Gift of All, is sometimes offered independently of the shoebox
distribution when it’s culturally appropriate, added Ulrich.
“It honestly breaks my heart,” said Cheryl
Wiebe, a member of the board who was opposed to excluding the project from
schools.
“My family actually supports Operation Christmas
Child. In fact, my daughter just finished a project where she saved up her
own money to buy a water tap through Samaritan’s Purse.”
People who want to participate can still bring their
boxes to some local churches, Safeway and Greyhound bus depots.
“The boxes are being given out to kids that, in a
lot of cases, have never received any form of gift in their entire
lives,” Ulrich emphasized.
“For a child who has never received anything,
receiving a box that shows someone somewhere across the world knows they
exist and cares about them [enough to] send something – it carries an
incredible amount of meaning for that individual child.
“We place an incredible value in sending out
these shoeboxes – and most of the time, when people are able to break
it down and see the value . . . it’s pretty easy to see the impact
that these shoeboxes have. And that’s why people continue to support
the program.”
December 2008
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