Instead of giving them something to eat, wear, watch, play with, or put on a shelf, how about something that should make them feel good while doing good.
Like a cow. A goat. Honey bees.
Now that gift-giving season is upon us, I decided to shun the madness of malls and retailers who started Black Friday during Thanksgiving dinner.
This year, I shopped at Oxfam America Unwrapped. I could just as easily have gone to Heifer International or Give a Goat.
All of them offer ways to give a gift that helps to end poverty and contribute to sustainability in places near and far.
I had the fun of trying to decide whether to buy a “hill of beans” for a subsistence farmer or honey bees for rural farmers. For someone else, it was a tough decision between a goat that thrives in tough environments or helping to start a village savings group.
Beyond animals and implements for better life in remote villages, there are many other compassionate charities that offer the gift of gift-giving to donors:
- Seva – Sanskrit for selfless service – focuses on the prevention of blindness around the world and on Native American community health. Gifts range from restoring sight through cataract surgery to honoring Native elders to training female health care workers.
- Rescue Gifts
touts “holiday gifts that save lives.” Its best-selling gifts are warm
blankets that go to displaced families and maternal health care for
women living in a crisis zone with few, if any, medical facilities.
- Charity Gift Market allows you to buy real goods that you can give to your loved ones to use or wear. The website provides “socially conscious shoppers with a marketplace of goods created and produced by charities, with all profit returning to the charity to support their work.”
Happier shopping…and the happiest of holidays, no matter which ones you celebrate.
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