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Home > Blogs > Women's Life > Archives > 2009 > October > 22 > Entry
Gift fair offers presents, chance to help others
A holiday gift sale will feature items that could help people in other countries, while curbing American holiday excess.
The Alternative Gift Market will be held at Southminster Presbyterian Church, 7001 Far Hills Ave. in Centerville on Saturday, Nov. 7 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. It is run by Southminster and Fairmont Presbyterian Church in Kettering.
The group partners with organization, Alternative Gifts International, to offer shoppers the chance to purchase items for people in other parts of the world on behalf of their friends and family here.
“We offer nice alternatives for families that there are other ways to give to people,” said Connie Wade, one of the event’s coordinators. “For those children who have received this kind of gift from grandma or whoever, it’s meant a lot to that child.”
Shoppers will be able to walk around the sale and see several opportunities to purchase livestock to help feed families, or items to provide safe drinking water to communities.
Or, they could buy a solar heating system to help an American Indian family power their home. Or they could purchase medical equipment for a clinic in Bolivia. There are smaller gifts geared for children shoppers, like $2 or $3 which could buy a chicken for a family.
A little bit of money can go a long way, Wade said.
“Any amount is fine,” she said. “There would be suggestions like $10 a week would provide food for a child in a Vietnamese orphanage, or $6 would pay for a share in a water pipe.”
The gift recipient will receive a greeting card identifying the project purchased in their name and a handmade Christmas ornament. Last year, for example, those who bought gifts towards food purchases received ornaments with a spoon with rice and a pea tied in a ribbon, Wade said.
The event also has the features of a traditional Christmas bazaar with entertainment and lunch.
Wade said she hopes the event will be added to yearly family holiday traditions.
“The hope is that people find a new way at Christmas to remember their family and friends,” Wade said.
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