Alternative Gifts

[Jon White]

Hey everyone,

Susan and I were just talking about Christmas gifts for friends and family and I wanted to let you know what we have decided to do for most of the people we buy gifts for.  Instead of buying them something they don't really need and probably won't think about again or use, we are going to buy other people around the world gifts in that persons honor that will make a real difference to someone in need.  We have done this in the past and most people, after a little initial confusion, are quite touched.  There are many charities out there that even create a customized gift card to give to the person explaining what impact the gift given in their name will have.  Here are two links to a great video that explains the idea well 

http://api.gfamedia.org/video/swf/2008_christmas 

http://donate.worldvision.org/OA_HTML/xxwv2ibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10389

click on video in upper right corner

Here are some of the ones that have online gift catalogs we use.  

Gospel for Asia - Christian, wide variety of giving opportunities, some videos about how gifts affect people

http://www.gfa.org/gift

World Vision- Christian, very comprehensive and diverse list of gifts, great personalized gift cards

http://donate.worldvision.org/OA_HTML/xxwv2ibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10389

World Relief- Christian, mostly food, animals, clothing, have some very inexpensive gifts

https://community.wr.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=723&srcid=192

Heifer International- non-Christian, good diverse list of gifts ranging from livestock to wells to HIV meds.

http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.204586/

Kiva- not Christian, but contains many affiliates that are Christian. Micro finance all around the world for almost any kind of project you can imagine.  This is a great organization which connects people across the world in an effort to empower poor people.  You can get a Kiva gift card for as little as $25 and then the person you give the gift card to can choose a specific person almost anywhere in the world to help with a project such as setting up a small chicken farm, sewing clothing, making gifts, etc.  Micro finance has been effectively helping people to get out of poverty for the last 20 to 30 years all around the world with some really awesome success rates.  This is a great way to introduce a friend or relative to the world of micro finance that is fun and personal.  Even if you don't choose to give a gift certificate, please check out their site and consider investing some of your money in this organization.

www.kiva.org 

Merry Christmas!  Feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be interested.

Jon

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Jon White