An Alternative to Holiday Excess

Ready to do some holiday shopping and help the community - or a community halfway across the world - at the same time?

You can do both at the11th Annual Alternative Gift Market and Craft Fair on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m..

Shoppers can find a local or international charity of their choice to make a donation, or purchase fair trade gift items from Ten Thousand Villages and other vendors.

One hundred percent of all donations and good purchased goes directly to the charities, says UUC member and market organizer Jodi Imel.

Here are a couple of examples from gift market organizers: 

 A child in Congo can’t go to school because he or she has a disability

•  $11 will buy leather straps for a leg brace and a better life

 A  child in Nepal is going blind because there is no proper medical care

• $33 helps pay for equipment, training and an outreach clinic to prevent blindness

A child in the Philippines does not have clean water to drink

•   $54 pays for safe drinking water for a whole family to prevent illnesses

Closer to home, a $30 donation to will buy a whole family a meal. Twenty dollars to the Giving Circle of Hope will pay for weekend food for a child in need. Twenty dollars to the will buy a winter hat, gloves and scarf for a resident or baby supplies and diapers for a family.

To see the full wish list of local and international agencies, click the pdf attached to this story. 

The Alternative Gift Market accepts cash or checks only. One hundred percent of your donation is tax deductible.

For more information or directions, visit the Unitarian Universalist Church in Reston website at www.uureston.org