121211 Alternative Gift Market allows shoppers to support global humanitarian causes

  • By Sharon Haught
  • December 5, 2011
  • 341
                        
Summary: Shoppers at the Alternative Gift Market discovered that the most meaningful gifts don’t always come from a store. While store shelves are filled with typical Christmas gifts, shoppers at a very special market found something far more meaningful than the standard gift cards, silk ties and electronic gadgets. On Dec. 4 the members of the community packed the First Presbyterian Church in Wooster for the Alternative Gift Market. Sponsored by First Presbyterian, St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Trinity United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Westminster Presbyterian, Wooster Mennonite and Wooster High School Key Club, the Alternative Gift Market provided shoppers from around the area with the opportunity to purchase products and support projects that are making a difference in the lives of people around the world. Bruch Hall was filled with displays detailing the 35 projects being conducted around the globe by various charitable organizations. The displays were manned by volunteers familiar with each project, who were on hand to answer any questions patrons might have. For a donation of $5 per share, shoppers had the opportunity to support special projects around the world either themselves or as a gift to a loved one. Included with each gift purchased was a card describing the project so that the recipient of the gift will know they have helped to make a difference in the lives of others. Wooster’s Alternative Gift Market was part of a nationwide movement spearheaded by Alternative Gifts International, a nonprofit organization that inspires support for global humanitarian causes by offering donors the option to donate charitable gifts through carefully selected nonprofit agencies in the name of their friends and family members. The wide variety of projects included in this year’s “shopping list for the world” includes projects designed to give sight to the blind in Nepal, food for homeless families in the U.S., micro-loans to Ugandan families to establish small businesses, literacy programs in Haiti and safe drinking water in the Philippines. Since its inception in 1987, Alternative Gifts International has acted as the catalyst to allow gift-givers to donate over $20 million to numerous charities worldwide on behalf of a loved one through gifts made via its web site and at local Alternative Gift Markets throughout the United States and Canada, including the one here in Wooster. In addition to purchasing shares in humanitarian projects around the world, shoppers at Wooster’s Alternative Gift Market also had the opportunity to purchase fairly traded coffee and other gifts to help those in need offered by other non-for-profit organizations. Handcrafted items from around the world were also offered for sale at the Alternative Gift Market by World Crafts of Kidron, which has specialized in fairly traded products designed to help artisans in the developing world improve their lives and their communities for over 20 years. The concept behind the store is to provide a market for products made in developing countries to help lift producers out of poverty through fair wages, safe working conditions, worker owned coops and financial transparency. The unique products offered for sale by World Crafts included everything from stunning jewelry and hand carved wooden items to children’s toys and stone carvings from all corners of the globe. Patrons at the Alternative Gift Market also had the opportunity to purchase homemade soups, pies and other treats. The proceeds from the sale of food will be divided among four local relief organizations - People-to-People Ministries, the Salvation Army, the Trinity United Church of Christ breakfast program and the Wooster United Methodist Church Meals Together program. To learn more about World Crafts in Kidron follow their Facebook page. Information on the work of Alternative Gifts International can be found at www.alternativegifts.org.


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