With Christmas nearing and advertisements amplifying, it can be awfully tempting to look to popular electronics for Christmas gifts–I’m thinking of you Kindle and iPad.
This year, instead of giving hollow, material gifts to people who already have all they need, give alternative gifts to those really needing help. The celebration of Jesus is only good news when it is good news for the poor.
Besides traditional charities–Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Charities are two of the best–here are some of my family’s favorite alternative giving ideas (which means if you are in our extended family, you’re likely going to get something from this list):
Catholic Relief Services (fair-trade products)
Buy ‘fair trade’ chocolate, coffee, and and handcrafts from artisans all over the world. Purchasing ‘fair trade’ products ensures that the producers were paid a fair wage for their work, and helps to establish an economy of solidarity.
Kiva.org (micro-loan gift certificates)
Micro-loans have proven to be one of the most successful ways to lift people out of poverty. These small, low-interest loans are given to poor entrepreneurs and have an extremely high repayment rate. Kiva matches donors with recipients from all over the world, enabling anyone with Internet access to participate in this great anti-poverty innovation. Since each donation is really a loan, the money can be re-donated once the original recipient pays it back.
Heifer International (livestock, seeds, or training)
Choose from a catalog full of unique gifts: a water buffalo, seeds, a flock of geese, a hive of bees, or, if you’re feeling super-generous, you can donate a camel. The animals themselves are “living loans” because in exchange for the livestock, recipients agree to share the produce and offspring with other families in need.
Soles4Souls (pairs of shoes for the needy)
Shoes are something simple that helps promote people’s dignity. When you don’t have much else, receiving a solid pair of shoes can really change your whole attitude. This organization makes it simple: $1 will provide one pair of shoes to someone in need. So far they’ve given nearly 12 million pairs of shoes to people in over 125 countries. For $5 you can let someone know that five pairs of shoes were given in their name–if you want to make a small donation in someone’s name, this is a great option.
OneLaptopPerChild (laptops for poor children around the world)
A joint effort among some of the smartest computer minds in the world, this is a really cool movement. Their goal is, as the name suggests, to get an internet-connected laptop in the hands of every child in the world. They’ve created simple, rugged, yet powerful laptops using some incredible technology, from hand-crank generators to advanced networking capabilities. $199 will provide one laptop for one child (you can buy your own model for $199, but you have to first donate one before you can get your own).
According to estimates, about one-billion people around the world live without access to clean drinking water. Charity:water allows you to help by offering this simple proposal: a $1 donation can provide clean water for one person for one year. Consider this statistic anytime you are tempted to make an impulse purchase at the cash register; $20 spent on a needless item could instead provide clean water for twenty people for a year.