Five Holiday Shopping Alternatives: Giving With Purpose

Looking for something different? 

Want to give with purpose? 

Sick and tired of the malls, the crowds, the frenzy? 

Try one or more of these alternatives.

Compassion International
Gifts that change lives

All gifts in the catalog are great for year-round giving as well as for Christmas. Consider donating a gift in honor of a friend or family member for a birthday, anniversary, graduation, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Grandparents Day — and we offer special Honor Cards to commemorate gifts for many occasions throughout the year. To learn more, go to: compassion.com/catalog.htm

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Heifer International
The Most Important Gift Catalog In The World

Choose a meaningful gift to give a loved one and help children and families around the world receive training and animal gifts that help them become self-reliant. Honor your loved ones with a free card from Heifer with every donation. To learn more, go to: heifer.org/gift-catalog/index.html 

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Oxfam America Unwrapped
Gifts that give back

Oxfam America is a global organization working to right the wrongs of poverty, hunger, and injustice. As one of 17 members of the international Oxfam confederation, we work with people in more than 90 countries to create lasting solutions. Oxfam saves lives, develops long-term solutions to poverty, and campaigns for social change. To learn more, go to oxfamamerica.org.

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Ten Thousand Villages

Fair Trade Retailer Since 1946

More than 60 years ago Edna Ruth Byler, a pioneering businesswoman, began selling handcrafted products from Puerto Rico out of the trunk of her car to help eradicate poverty. Today a global network of social entrepreneurs works to empower artisans in developing countries. To learn more, go to tenthousandvillages.com/

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UNICEF
Every Gift You Purchase Helps Save Children's Lives

UNICEF Market offers beautifully crafted items, including gifts and cards, with part of the proceeds going to talented artisans and to help UNICEF save and protect children. To learn more, go to: market.unicefusa.org/

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A couple of notes...

For friends outside the USA, the links provided here are for shopping and delivery with the United States. However, all of these are international organizations. Many have links to sites designed for your country. If you have suggestions about how I can make that easier, please leave a comment.

Did I miss a good one? Post a comment with your suggestion. If it is in keeping with the theme, I'll update the list!

On One Thing, We Can Agree

Day 6 of 9 on Human Trafficking and In Support of Born To Fly International

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God Is With The Vulnerable And Poor
Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast in February of 2006, U2 star Bono said that "all faiths and ideologies" can agree on one thing, "that God is with the vulnerable and poor. "

The children of the poor are the most vulnerable of the vulnerable. They are the victims of choice for human traffickers. A friend of mine who as a child was among the invisible street children of Kolkata, tells of his childhood friends who simply disappeared. Their families had no resources and no voice. When a child disappeared, he or she was simply gone.

Let Your Light RiseBono reminds us that if we want to align our heart with God's heart, then our heart will be with the poor. "God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house… God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives… God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war… God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them. 'If you remove the yolk from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom with become like midday and the Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire in scorched places.'"

That passage from Isaiah 58 is but one of more than 2,100 that mention the poor and to make it clear that those of us who have plenty bear a responsibility to those who have less than enough. Speaking of the poor, Jesus said, 'As you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.' (Matthew 25:40).

What Can You Do For The Least Of These?
There is no shortage of choices. Here are two.

Sponsor A Child Today Through Compassion International When you sponsor a child through Compassion, you make a huge difference in the life of that child and help to break the cycle of poverty and extreme vulnerability.

Support Born To Fly International's Education Campaign Born To Fly has prepared educational materials about the perils of human trafficking, suitable for children and parents in any culture. They need your help to go to press and begin to distribute these materials to waiting schools, churches and relief agencies.

Making A Difference... One Child At a Time

In the time it takes you to read this paragraph, it is likely that at least one child will become an orphan because of HIV/AIDS and another two or three may die of hunger or because of a preventable or curable disease. The problem is huge. The numbers are overwhelming. But please join me in reducing those numbers, one child at a time. Sponsor a child today with Compassion International.

Sponsoring children in need is breaking the cycle of poverty
Compassion International exists as a Christian child advocacy ministry that releases children from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and enables them to become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults.

Founded by the Rev. Everett Swanson in 1952, Compassion began providing Korean War orphans with food, shelter, education and health care, as well as Christian training.

Today, Compassion helps more than 950,000 children in 24 countries.

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Click the graphic to learn

more about child sponsorship