Alternative Christmas gifts give to more than just the recipient

In Los Angeles, members of St. Paul the Apostle Parish have for more than a decade been able to write checks after Mass on the first Sunday of Advent to an assortment of local and national service organizations. Recipient organizations this year include Meals on Wheels, a tutoring program for homeless children and Homeboy Industries, which gives youths an alternative to gang involvement.wheel aligner

Claire Henning, pastoral associate at St. Paul,heavy duty digital platform scales said parishioners who participate in what they call Inspired Alternative Christmas Gifts write checks directly to the organizations, so she couldn't report what the level of donations works out to be for the recipient charities.

She personally donates money to Homeboy Industries, she told Catholic News Service, and sends gift cards noting the donation in their name to several people.

"It's a great way to transition from giving gifts to nieces and nephews who are now grown up," Henning said. "That generation is very appreciative of that kind of outreach."

Such programs have caught on all around the country, with each parish creating its own options for gift-giving. But international organizations also offer an easy way to do it through their websites.

How about donating money in the name of the brother-who-has-everything to ensure a program for children with Down syndrome in Cuba can keep operating? Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops' overseas relief and development agency, offers that as one of the alternative gifts one can support with a few clicks on its site.

Or maybe this is the year to buy -- in the name of that college-age niece who doesn't need clothes but wants to save the world -- a goat or a sheep for a struggling family in a developing country.

Save the Children and Heifer International are a few of the charities that would be happy to match your money with a family in need of a farm animal, knitting supplies or a clean cooking stove.

Save the Children and CRS also both offer sales of handicrafts made by the beneficiaries of their programs.

Courtney Lare, economic justice program officer at CRS, oversees CRS online direct sales and its Work of Human Hands consignment sales. She said about 500 parishes and other organizations hold such sales once a year or more.

Fair trade coffee and chocolate are the biggest sellers, she said. "And Haitian wall art, especially since the earthquake, is very popular, as are Christian goods like olive-wood ornaments and Nativities."

Handicrafts are provided through SERRV and include everything from inexpensive jewelry and Christmas ornaments to hand-knotted Tibetan rugs and other home decor.

Although the weak economy has meant the number of participating groups hasn't grown the last few years, Lare said sales are up. Sales range from about $600 for a first-time effort to the more than $40,000 a year that a parish in Ohio sells over a year,pocket scales Lare said.nitrogen generator & inflator machine

For charitable gifts that stay close to home, the angel tree or giving tree model is popular. For these, names of needy people and suggestions for gifts they could use are handed out in late November or early December, with the information often written on angel-shaped ornaments. The gifts are returned to the church or a service agency, where volunteers distribute them to the recipients.

The angel trees benefiting a program run by Catholic Social Services of Baldwin County, Ala., are all over the county, said Colleen McNorton, Catholic Social Services director.

A local online newspaper, the Mullet Wrapper, advertised angel trees being hosted by restaurants in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, for example.

"Usually they're in churches, sometimes in schools," McNorton said. "Oh, and the Grand Hotel in Point Clear."

The range of locations will help the program give gifts to 5,200 Baldwin County children this year, she said. The population of Baldwin County, which is in the Mobile Archdiocese, is about 186,000.

Families in need of help getting gifts for children register with Catholic Social Services, which screens for financial need, she said.The high quality Fruit knife, when looked after correctly, will last a lifetime - so although, initially, they are more expensive, they work out cheaper in the long term.Another problem with the cheaper knives is that they are less safe.