Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states the following: Unfortunately, Muslims doing such are misguided and uneducated as far as the pristine teachings of Islam are concerned. At the same time they have basic faith, albeit tainted by shirk (associating others with Allah).
It is the duty of Muslims who are educated and conscious of pure tawheed (oneness of Allah) to educate them, but while doing so they must exercise hikmah (wisdom) and leniency. Allah tells us in the Qur’an to argue or dialogue with the People of the Book in the most gracious manner. If that is the case in dealing with the People of the Book, what about those Muslims who are utterly illiterate and ignorant of their own religion.
Exercising wisdom and a gentle approach with them is the only sure way of weaning them off their practices tainted with shirk. If, on the other hand, you were to react to them harshly, that would only drive them away further and further from the path of tawheed and make them more entrenched in their erroneous beliefs and practices.
May Allah grant you wisdom and may He make us all instruments of guidance. Remember the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to `Ali: “If a single person were guided to the right path through your efforts, that would be even better for you than owning the whole world as a treasure!”
Moreover, Sheikh Muhammad Al-Mukhtar Al-Shinqiti, Director of the Islamic Center of South Plains, Lubbock, Texas, adds:
First of all, those people are Muslims though they are ignorant about the teachings of Islam. In the time of Muslims’ decadence, ignorance spread and people started to do such acts. However, this does not rule out the fact that they are still Muslims. Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah bless his soul) put a very nice rule that states “not everyone who commits an act of shirk is a mushrik. To judge a certain person, you have to understand all of his situation and surrounding circumstances, for he may be excused because of ignorance, the way he was raised, the culture prevailing in his environment, and so on.” This does not belittle the gravity of the act you mentioned in the question, but it is only to differentiate between the act itself and those who do it.
My advice to you is that you help those poor people financially, and you should also educate them about their religion. Use these benevolent acts to reach their hearts and teach them the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).