It’s that time of year again when the lights go up, the sales begin and the shopping begins in earnest. Sure, you could buy that new iPod nano or the latest HDTV for your loved one, but this year, why not make a difference with your giving? Honor your friends and family by helping others in their name.

There are hundreds of alternative gift options, and each community offers something different. But here are just a few gift ideas to get you in the holiday spirit.

Change a Life Forever: Alternative Gifts International

For the price of a necktie (and who wants a necktie anyway?), you can provide medicine and therapy to a child in the Republic of Georgia suffering from cystic fibrosis. Want to help more than one person? Give medicine to 100 impoverished people in Central America for the price of a video game.

AGI raised US$ 18,564 to to provide solar computers to 337 Latin American students.

Alternative Gifts International (AGI) is a non-profit agency that offers gift givers the opportunity to aid environmental and anti-poverty projects around the globe. AGI works with dozens of globally respected aid agencies worldwide. Each agency agrees to spend 100 percent of donated funds on the humanitarian projects.

These gifts of empowerment truly do make a difference. Donate a water buffalo (for US$ 143) to a farmer in Bolivia, for example, and that farmer can double his harvest and better provide for his family. And that’s just the beginning. You can purchase a solar-powered computer for a school in Honduras or rescue girls from human trafficking in Southeast Asia. Your gift can even build a new home for the poorest people of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

American Harriet Prichard started AGI in 1980 as a simple way to teach children the joys of giving. That effort has grown to touch thousands around the globe. “Last year, we helped to rebuild a school in Baghdad for girls,” says Prichard. “We also sent medicine to Darfur refugees who have fled the genocide in Sudan and are now in camps in Chad. Disease and famine are everyday struggles there.”

These gifts of empowerment can be donated in the name of your loved one. Each gift recipient receives a meaningful card that explains the significance of your gift. The best thing about gifts sent through AGI is that they actually touches three lives, says Prichard. “The donor knows they are doing something that changes the world, the recipient of the gift card is honored and then the recipient of the gift is truly blessed,” she adds.

It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

Alternative Gifts International
www.alternativegifts.org
800-842-2243 (within the U.S.)