TodayArea women’s giving circle hosts alternative holiday gift-giving event for shoppers
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Article RatingRather than buying another pair of house shoes for dear old dad this Christmas, give him a card telling him the money you spent on his gift is providing a week’s worth of milk and eggs for a women’s shelter.
Inform your brother, sister and mother that the money for a new CD, mall gift certificate and bottle of perfume have been replaced in the stocking this year. Instead, let them support a one-year registration fee for a Girl Scout in need, or give five people a hot meal, bag of toiletries and socks.
Instead of spending money on more “World’s Greatest” items and gift baskets for your grandparents, tell them that the gift of a day’s rent and utilities is being paid for at a shelter in their honor this holiday season.
That’s what a women’s giving circle from the West Shore is hoping area shoppers will do more of this year. They have started “Gifts That Give,” an alternative gift fair that allows shoppers to buy items that will help people in need.
On Saturday, representatives of 14 non-profit agencies were on hand at the Hampden Township Recreation Building in Mechanicsburg to kick off this first-time midstate initiative, selling 411 gifts that totaled $11,500.
The shopping list of items for the event, which remains open online at www.theladieshalf.org until Dec. 1, ranges from $10 for gifts such as school supplies for an adult student at the Employment Skills Center to $280 for the care of a chronically ill patient for one year at A Mission of Mercy.
Other gifts include a $100 tuition scholarship for a ballet student with financial need, two tarps to keep a homeless person dry for $40, an empowering drum workshop to support a woman from a domestic violence shelter for $25 and one day of before- or after-care for a child in need at $10.
“It’s a unique and wonderful idea to this area,” said Dale Cross, executive director of the Employment Skills Center. “I really believe this event is very special and pretty significant,” noting that it promotes giving and philanthropy and passing that attitude on to younger generations.
Designed to detract from the commercialism of Christmas and eliminate the stress of holiday shopping, organizers say “Gifts That Give” is perfect for kids because they learn about people in need and how to spend money in different ways.
“We are just overwhelmed with the response so far,” said organizer Jeannie Fecko Kruidenier, explaining that the original goal was half of what they have already received. “We’re overwhelmed by the generosity.”
“This gives them a start,” said fellow organizer Arlene Wickens of the help it provides to non-profit organizations around the area. “It’s nice for us for what our mission is.”
She described that mission as getting to know what services other groups can provide to pool resources and help people in need.
Both Kruidenier and Wickens are two of the four founding members of the giving circle, known as The Ladies’ Half, which formed in 2003.
The group grew from a monthly social gathering where the group of West Shore women would go out to dinner or a movie. After each night out, they wrote a check for half of what they had spent and gave it to a charity.
Today there are 21 voting members and several others involved in the group’s service projects throughout the year, including preparation and service of Thanksgiving dinner at the Safe Harbour shelter in Carlisle.
Together with the Foundation for Enhancing Communities, The Ladies’ Half intends to give small grants to non-profit organizations in the new year.
Because of the tremendous support for this year’s event, organizers are already planning for the 2008 gift fair.
“We may create a separate Web site for ‘Gifts That Give’ and make it so people can pay online,” Wickens said.
Organizers would also like to involve more non-profits, including those geared towards pet needs, the arts and the environment as well as others such as Habitat for Humanity.
