2011年11月15日 星期二

Alternative Gift Fair sells livestock, building materials, medicine

Everybody has that one relative or friend who's difficult to shop for.

Maybe it's the grandfather who doesn't need anything, the mom who just wants time with her loved ones, or that new coworker the office doesn't yet know.

What can one buy to satisfy those with selective tastes?

How about a cow, a front door handle and lock, or a wheelchair equipped with mountain-bike tires?

Shoppers at the First Presbyterian Church of Napa's annual Alternative Gift Fair browsed through such gifts Sunday, purchasing items that might seem a bit unorthodox to the average American.

"So many of us have more things in this day and age than we can even use," said churchgoer Harriet Nelson. "We're providing opportunities to support organizations that reach out and try to enable others to have a better life."

Sunday's event, the 11th annual fair held at the downtown church, included tables with information on charities to which donors could give in the name of another. The church also offered gift cards to explain a gift was given to someone in the card recipient's honor.

At the Habitat for Humanity booth, shoppers could purchase building materials in the name of those on their gift lists. Items "for sale" ranged from stocking stuffers including boxes of nails or fluorescent light bulbs, to more extravagant gifts, like a hot water heater to benefit a needy family in Napa or Solano counties.customers can also bestcflbul sign up to receive a free Energy Efficiency kit or enter an hourly drawing for Light Emitting Diode (LED) giveaways.

Heifer International's booth offered a slew of live gifts to benefit communities across the globe, some in the United States and others in Third World countries. Donors could purchase a flock of chicks for $20, a goat for $120, a llama for $150, a heifer for $500 and much more.

The organization then gives the animals to people in need who create fabric from animal wool, cheese from their milk, and in time, use the animal for its meat, said volunteer Linda Lucas. When Heifer International animals produce offspring, they are given to others to help raise a community out of poverty.

"What impressed me most was the sheep,Using energy-efficient CFLs bestcflbulbsw and LED lighting helps to lower energy use and reduce cost. Throughout the day, SCEEP" Lucas said of a recent trip to one of Heifer's recipient communities. "It has wool, it gives milk and it has meat. ... In Lithuania, they take the milk from the sheep and make cheese. Prior to getting the sheep, their diet was very rudimentary — they would grow potatoes and greens. Once they had the sheep, they could make cheese, a very good protein source. It really changes the nutrition of the family."

Other booths offered blankets for South African residents who have AIDS, wheelchairs for the disabled in developing countries, and opportunities to fund the education of orphans or legal representation for sex slaves.

For those looking for more tangible gifts that still come with some social benefit,Southern California Edison bestcflbulbss customers can take home a free Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) bulb. there were items for sale made by people in developing countries. The money from these products,when new energy standards bestcflbulbs for lighting were announced, is beginning to take hold throughout the real estate industry ranging from baskets to ornaments to jewelry to coffee beans, goes back to the artisans or farmers who produced them, said Julia Levitan, chairwoman of the fair.

There were even cards, calendars and planners to support the art therapy programs at Aldea Children and Family Services, which helps foster care children in Napa and Solano counties.

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