Westminster hosts virtual Alternative Gift Market

This holiday season, students and faculty at Westminster College will host a virtual Alternative Gift Market to offer an alternative shopping experience for gift giving.

Westminster College First-Year Inquiry classes, including students in the Civic Engagement, Global Engagement and Sustainability Fellows programs, will showcase their websites that present research posters about and advocate for their global and regional causes. Students will also participate in live Zoom presentations about food insecurity, environmental preservation, health care, educational access and more during the online event being held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, at www.westminsteralternativegiftmarket.com.  Zoom presentation links will be available on the website.

“Westminster’s Alternative Gift Market provides the unique experience of combining advocacy and research, allowing shoppers to not only support these important causes, but to gain a deeper understanding of the issues surrounding them,” said Dr. Kristin Park, professor of sociology and event coordinator.

Shoppers can make donations to specific organizations on Westminster’s Alternative Gift Market site between Friday, Nov. 6, and Friday, Nov. 13. Cash donations can be delivered to Westminster College’s Office of Faith and Spirituality, 223 McKelvey Campus Center, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6.

Some organizations students are supporting include Hilltop Urban Farm of Pittsburgh, Sustainable Harvest International, Mano a Mano, ConnectMed, Water for South Sudan, Project Concern International, Burma Humanitarian Mission, Expanding Opportunities, Nazarene Compassionate Ministries’ Shechem Children’s Home, The Nature Conservancy and Plant with Purpose.

Westminster College’s market supports Alternative Gifts International—a non-profit organization which inspires support for humanitarian and environmental causes—and represents service learning for its students.

The virtual alternative gift market is open to the public. For more information, contact Park at kpark@westminster.edu or 724-946-7251.

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