At our family Christmas, Santa fills the children’s stockings, but the grownups fill each others’ — every adult gets one little gift from every other adult. This year, I’ve discovered splendid little stocking stuffers for everyone at a single website, and I got to choose exactly how much I wanted to spend.
It’s called Changing the Present (www.changingthepresent.org), and the concept is giving contributions as gifts … which, granted, isn’t really a novel idea, *but* the way the site presents your options for giving is quite different.
For example, you can “shop” for gifts by cause — human rights, water, peace, women, animal welfare, environment, cancer, population, or social entrepreneurs represent just a sampling of types of causes you can support with your gift. So let’s pretend you choose “peace” as your cause; click on it, and you’re offered a list of dozens of global giving opportunities related to promoting peace — from a $14 donation for Partners for Democratic Change to help fund a soccer league for poor Mexico City youth to teach them valuable life skills, to a $5,000 donation for Seeds of Peace to send one teen leader to the Seeds of Peace International Camp in Maine for three weeks.
I simply clicked on the “stocking stuffers” category ($1 - $10), and chose contributions appropriate for the recipients:
· for my sister the second-grade teacher and ravenous reader, $5 for First Book to buy two brand-new books for children who can’t afford them otherwise;
· for my brother the chef, $5 for The Cooperative Feeding Program to buy five PB&J sandwiches for hungry kids;
· for my dad, the animal lover and treat giver, $5 for Farm Sanctuary to give treats to rescued animals; and
· for my mom, the almost-74-year-old still-working woman, $5 for Dress for Success Worldwide to provide one woman with a day at the organization’s Career Center.
I’m spending less and giving more than ever stocking-wise — and isn’t that what this season is all about??
No comments:
Post a Comment