Unique solutions for gift-giving to be featured at Alternative Gift Market

Fed up with buying and receiving gifts that collect dust or take up space in a closet? This year, try making your purchases at the Alternative Gift Market and Ten Thousand Villages Craft Fair, Nov. 14 in the gymnasium of First Congregational United Church of Christ, 309 N. Garfield, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

An alternative gift market offers a different gift-giving mechanism for holiday shoppers. Gifts are purchased for local, national and international humanitarian projects focused on saving lives and preserving our planet. The gifts are purchased in honor of family, friends, business associates, and others. Shoppers receive a decorative card and an insert describing the project purchased. These cards can then be given to friends and family as alternative gifts.

"Over 30 display booths will spotlight relief and development gifts such as trees, livestock, food or medicine to benefit the world's poor and our endangered planet," Shannon Ansley, market coordinator said. "They are like no other gifts in our world today. These are gifts of peace and justice, gifts that are sustainable and that build security. The gifts multiply and grow, sometimes exponentially, and offer hope and new life to people facing grave crises and need. They challenge the trivia of our modern culture, and they are authentic gifts that people really use and cherish. They always fit and are never thrown away," noted Ansley.

Examples of alternative gifts include providing funds to grow trees in Central America, Tanzania and Thailand; building rural medical clinics in Bolivia; preventing disease among orphans in Vietnam and safe motherhood kits in Africa. Local service and relief agencies including Aid For Friends, the Idaho Food Bank, Sister Cities-Africa, Family Services Alliance, the Pocatello Free Clinic, the Portneuf Gap Project and Habitat For Humanity will also be present to accept purchases of alternative gifts. Nearly 25 groups, individuals, and others have agreed to sponsor projects at the market, making this another big year for the event.

Ten Thousand Villages works with over 130 artisan groups in more than 38 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to offer fair trade jewelry, home decor, gifts and more for sale. As one of the world's oldest and largest fair trade organizations, they build long-term relationships with artisans that are based on mutual understanding and respect. Fair trade enables artisans to earn a fair wage and provides the opportunity for a better quality of life.

For more information, please call, Shannon Ansley, 232-1538 or Carol Stirling, 233-8208, or Cahtleen Tarp, 478-1665. Please see the following websites for more information: www.alternativegifts.org and www.tenthousandvillages.com.