Charitable Christmas Giving

[eaglesvet]

I wanted to share an idea for charitable giving I have done for a few years now, both at Christmas and at the end of the school year, for classroom teachers, Sunday school teachers, piano teachers--the list can go on and on. I have made a donation in the teacher's name to World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide. When you make a donation, you actually specify what it is you are donating. My all-time favorite is to donate $15 for "a share of an alpaca" to a Peruvian or Ecuadorian family. An alpaca provides that family with income for up to 25 yrs from the highly prized wool, while at the same time protecting the local environment from erosion and deforestation by its gentle grazing habits. I guess this appeals to my animal-lover side as well as to my environmentally-friendly side!

There are literally more than 100 different charitable gifts as cool as an alpaca that can change the lives of the poor in other countries as well as here in the US. Another favorite of mine for my sons' piano teacher was to donate $20 for musical instruments for a child's classroom in Mozambique. I've also donated similar amounts for a supply of fast-growing hybrid seeds for a family in Thailand.

The list goes on... immunizing children for $41, preventing malaria by providing bed nets for 1 family for $20, providing safety for a formerly sexually exploited girl in Cambodia for $100...all the way up to digging a well in Malawi for $5390 ( and even some greater donations than that.) They also have projects for the underprivileged families right here in the US.

I've given this as a sole gift (how many knick-knacks can a piano teacher get in her lifetime?). In cases where the parents in a classroom have taken up a collection to buy a larger collective gift for the teacher rather than 20 small gifts, I've also bought one large personal gift for the teacher (say, a piece of personalized jewelry), and then donated the remaining money to a cause she would appreciate. World Vision gives you a nice card detailing what the specific donation is, and how it will help the person, family, or community to which it was donated--so that your gift recipient will know about the donation made in their honor.

Anyway, in these economic times, I wanted to make others aware of this worthwhile opportunity to make your dollars go far (in all senses of the word.) The website is www.worldvisiongifts.org, click on gift catalog.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

ev - This is a wonderful idea, and thanks for that link. I just love these types of gifts that "keep on giving" to help those around the world who are less fortunate than we are.

[Brooke]

It truly is, ev. Thanks for letting us know about it.

[TimothyBFan]

We have actually done the exact same thing in the past. My children for several years now have put only one thing on their Christmas list for the gift exchange we have with my husband's family and that is a donation in their name for either The Save Darfur Fund or The Heifer Foundation where the charity uses money donated to help buy livestock, seeds, grains etc. and to help educate families in 3rd world nations raise crops and livestock and therefore helping them become self sufficient. I was very proud of them years ago when they started doing that on their own at the ages of 11 & 13.

[eaglesvet]

That is quite generous of your children. My kids are not quite there yet, but the more we model the behavior, the more likely it is to stick!

[tbs fanatic]

I will add another cool place to donate that I've just discovered.

The Children's Safe Drinking Water Project (csdw.org). It provides packets of chemicals that you simply mix with contaminated water and in about 30 minutes the water is drinkable. Amazing. Proctor and Gamble are behind this.

Apparently just $1 gives a child safe drinking water for 50 days. $30 gives a family safe drinking water for a year!! This system has won a bunch of awards so it obviously works well. I recently came across this on a tv ad for PUR water.

[sodascouts]

What a great idea. I was trying to decide what to get for my parents who don't really need anything that I can buy them... and I saw this! I made two donations in their names.

I also like their post-purchase note: "Thank you for helping change the world with your gift."

[eaglesvet]

Oh yeah, that's the other perfect recipient...the person who has everything, and you absolutely can't think of another thing to get them that they don't already have!

[Glennsallnighter]

As well as giving personal gifts we always give charity gifts to our family and friends. We have picked a charity every years for about 10 years now since this gift idea has become possible. I try to match the gifts up with something meaningful in the recipients life . My sister loves basketball so one year I got her one which would be used to encourage sport between children of warring factions in Rwanda. We give educational supplies for schools in developing countries to teachers and students. I gave my mom a home survival kit one year. This year because Laura is getting such good eye care we are giving gifts from 'Sightsavers'. These include glasses which will allow visually impaired children to read, cataract operations and braille kits. We are giving ABA Christmas cards

I think its good too for our children to see that the services and products that they take for granted over here are not available to eveybody and that they should appreciate what they have.

Its quite funny at home on Christmas morning at times:

'Dad, What presents did you get?'

'A goat, a beehive, anti-malaria medicine and 600 jabs!!'

[glenneaglesfan]

This is a wonderful idea. Last year D's parents bought some chickens in his name, which will help a family in Tanzania. Over here, we can put a small sum aside into a special charity fund, then we can pay cheques without worrying about our day to day finances. I've just sent a charity cheque to our local animal rescue centre. In the new year we are thinking about getting a dog from them.