lauracolumbus Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 I just found out about these from this board and how they were distributed during the Cincy convention. Ironically at nearly the same time on the Midwest Homeschool Convention FB they posted some quote about tolerance, etc. I mentioned the Chick Tracts and Bravewriter ban on their page. This is their response: As posted earlier today in response to a question on this page: "Our apologies! A 3rd party company does those hand-out bags, and does so for a lot of homeschool events. We've already had that material removed for our future conventions. We'll be more careful as we move forward. Again, please accept our sincere apologies!" I guess I can almost overlook this, but they don't address the Julie Bogart situation. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy2BaMom Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 So this "3rd party" feels free to fill the bags without even describing to the organizer what will be in the bags or without anyone from the convention staff even checking what is in the bags????? That's a third party that has an eyebrow-raising amount of power. I did convention management for years when I was working. Neither I - nor anyone I worked with over those years - let ANYTHING get set or sent out to conference attendees without looking it over first (for all the obvious reasons)...especially if it was all done by a third party. Everything was seen by at least one set of management eyes, and it was common for the VP at our company to do a final look-see as well. I'm glad to see they posted an explanation, but, even if it is true, they are either jaw-droppingly careless/clueless (speaking from my conference management background) or merely hiding behind the straw man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 I'm having trouble letting them off the hook with that. They must have given some kind of guidelines to the company. Would they have accepted material from BioLogos or another Christian group that promoted evolution? What if local private schools wanted to include brochures about how enrolling your kids could lighten your burden. The catalog in question had an photo this tract on its cover: Jesuits. The men in my family going back three generations were Jesuit trained and I think a tract like this is vile. Now that I've taken time to check out the Chick website, I regret that I didn't make a stink about this at the beginning of the convention. There just didn't seem to be anyone to take it to. There were volunteers at the registration desks, but I didn't see anything that looked like people actually in charge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 So this "3rd party" feels free to fill the bags without even describing to the organizer what will be in the bags or without anyone from the convention staff even checking what is in the bags????? That's a third party that has an eyebrow-raising amount of power. I did convention management for years when I was working. Neither I - nor anyone I worked with over those years - let ANYTHING get set or sent out to conference attendees without looking it over first (for all the obvious reasons)...especially if it was all done by a third party. Everything was seen by at least one set of management eyes, and it was common for the VP at our company to do a final look-see as well. I'm glad to see they posted an explanation, but, even if it is true, they are either jaw-droppingly careless/clueless (speaking from my conference management background) or merely hiding behind the straw man. I agree, that apology honestly rings hollow to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 *Chick* tracts? :confused: The levels of hattery going on at this convention is getting mind boggling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Where did you see this apology? I'm looking at their FB posts and see no post and nothing in recent comments? Do they have more than one page? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Wise Bauer Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 This is the response I received when I objected: ***BEGIN QUOTE*** The following is an email response we sent to a couple of our Catholic friends / attendees that wrote to us: Thank you SO MUCH for bringing this to our attention, and please accept our sincere apologies! These “convention bags†were provided by a third party company, Great Stuff Convention Bags. As many homeschool conventions use their services, and as we had used them several years ago without incident, we did not review the materials in the bags prior to their distribution. As you may or may not be aware, we have “Featured†convention speakers that are Catholic. And, our friend and advisor, Attorney David Gibbs III, represented Terri Schaivo’s parents (also Catholic) in their fight to save her life. Please know that we were equally shocked and disappointed. We have contacted the convention bag company, and instructed them to remove this from our convention bags for the upcoming events in California and Connecticut. Again, our sincere apologies! We’ll take extra care to ensure that something such as this does not happen again. ================================================ The following is from our MidWest FB page: Eva Roll Loved the conference and found great resources. Hated to find the Jack Chick catalog in my hand- out bag. Prejudice isn't Christian and he has so distorted the truth about the Catholic church it has bred much prejudice. By the way on pg32 he criticizes Billy Graham... Please get rid of this hand out for future conferences. 17 hours ago · Like MidWest Homeschool Convention in Cincinnati Eva Roll - Our apologies! A 3rd party company does those hand-out bags, and does so for a lot of homeschool events. We've already had that material removed for our future conventions. We'll be more careful as we move forward. Again, please accept our sincere apologies! 5 hours ago · Like Eva Roll Thanks so much for removing the Jack Chick hand outs. I appreciate your attention to this matter! God Bless. 3 hours ago · ======================================================================================== Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Ah, I didn't realize that there were separate FB pages for the different convention locations. I wonder if they are planning to send out an email to all attendees? I don't recall mentioning my Catholic affiliations, so are they just waiting to get irritated emails? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Great Stuff does solicit businesses to put their brochures, catalogs, and other information into their bags. I still get their e-mails. When we looked into doing that, they gave us a list of conventions we could select -- and the amount of materials/cost for each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 (edited) What if local private schools wanted to include brochures about how enrolling your kids could lighten your burden. Considering the number of charter and private school booths, I doubt that would have been a problem. :glare: I have received those convention bags for a decade now, and there has never been a brochure from Chick Tracts in one before. I can believe that it was an honest oversight. You don't think of those things until it happens the first time; I bet they will watch the bag contents from now on. I went with a friend who is Catholic, and she considers GHC Catholic-friendly. :001_smile: I've been off the boards for a few days, so maybe I'll see another thread, but what's the story with Julie Bogart? ETA: Never mind, I saw the thread. Edited April 25, 2012 by angela in ohio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simka2 Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 Wow! I have been out of the loop. I just caught up on the Jack Chick and Julie Bogart/Brave writer situation. The Jack Chick situation I understand as an oversight and I can give that GHC. But when I take this combined with the JB/BW I am once again left with that icky feeling. I had considered flying to a GHC convention this year, but could not find enough speakers I wanted to hear to make it worth while. Here is what I just cannot understand...why, after the whole Ken Ham fiasco, would they backtrack in such a way? The die had been cast. Their identity as a more "inclusive" homeschool convention was secured. Now, IMO they have shot themselves in the foot. Next year it will once again come down to convention speakers and vendors for me. If they cannot diversify, I am really just not interested in spending the money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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