Young Presbyterian Scholars Offer Unique Holiday Giving Opportunities

The Westminster College Young Presbyterian Scholars (YPS) are sponsoring an "Alternative Gift Market" Thursday, Dec. 7, from noon-7 p.m. in the Carlson Atrium of the McKelvey Campus Center.

The event is free and open to the public.

Instead of buying yet another sweater for "Aunt Sue," a shopper might purchase a wheelchair for a landmine victim in Cambodia, or phones and radios to enable healthcare workers in Tanzania to reach their patients more quickly. "Aunt Sue" will get an attractive card telling her about the gift given in her honor and will know that she has helped make a difference in the world.

"The Alternative Gift Market offers a wide selection of meaningful, life-giving gifts that can change the world," explained Carey Anne Meyer LaSor, coordinator of the YPS program. "Shoppers can provide eye surgery for children in Guatemala, purchase equipment that enables Africans to pasteurize their water using solar energy, help feed hungry families in the United States, or plant trees in Haiti and the Dominican Republic."

Shoppers will be able to browse through display booths featuring these unique gifts that help those in need around the world. Volunteers will be on hand to explain to shoppers how to make their selections.

The Young Presbyterian Scholar's Alternative Gift Market is one of 14 markets held on college and university campuses in the U.S.A and one of more than 500 similar markets held around the world that are coordinated by Alternative Gifts International (AGI), headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. AGI was incorporated in 1986 by Harriet Prichard, a schoolteacher who initially created the idea of an Alternative Gift Market to teach children that they can make a difference by giving to help the world's poor. Since then the concept has grown into an international nonprofit organization that has raised more than $17 million to empower the world's poorest citizens and preserve the planet. The 35 projects through which these gifts are delivered must meet AGI's strict guidelines for relevance and accountability. All donations through the purchase of alternative gifts are tax-deductible.

Anyone who cannot attend the Alternative Gift Market can receive a free catalog by calling Alternative Gifts International at (316) 269-0635 or 1-800-842-2243 or visiting www.alternativegifts.org.

The Alternative Gift Market also features Equal Exchange Coffees from The Presbyterian Coffee Project and will be available for tasting and for sale. Items from The Silk Road Shop, which is owned by New Wilmington native Wendy Farmerie, also features fair trade and self-development project items from around the world.

Contact Meyer at (724) 946-7365 or e-mail meyerca@westminster.edu for more information.

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