Does dad really need another tie?

I don't know about you but the majority of the people on my Christmas list truly have everything they need. Will I still buy them Christmas gifts? Yes because it is my love language. I love finding the perfect gift in hopes that it will demonstrate my love for the one who receives my gift. But what if I shaved off about $2 per person in order to give someone, one who has little, a gift?

Gifts of Hope 2013 from World Help on Vimeo.

I buy Christmas gifts for roughly 20 people. $2 per person, 20 people....that would be $40. 

$40 doesn't seem much but as I look through my Gifts of Hope catalog I see that if I pitched in an extra five bucks I could provide clean water for three people. In her book Awake, Noel writes, "Americans spend an average of $700 each at Christmas, which with a population of a little over 300 million , works out to over $210 billion.....if just half the population set aside $200 of their Christmas spending and put it toward the water crisis, the problem could be solved!" UNICEF states that every day 2000 children die from diseases directly related with to unsafe water. 2000 children....this is a very sad and shocking statistic. Just think, if we banded together we could easily solve this crisis! But this isn't a post about water and maybe $200 cut from your Christmas budget makes you uncomfortable so let's get back to just $40 shall we?

$40 could also provide..........

8 books

School supplies for a year for one child

4 rabbits (2 "mates") which can be sold, traded and used for food. I'm sure you know how quickly rabbits multiply.........one rabbit, in it's lifespan of 9-12 years, can have as many as 1000 babies! That's a lot of rabbits. Also the rabbits will create poo which is wonderful for gardens!

$35 could provide a coat or bedding (pillow, sheet, blanket)

$30 provides a fruit bearing tree

$25 provides one pair of shoes for a child

"Bare feet are the cause of up to 2 billion parasitic disease diagnoses every year" (Gifts of Hope)

$25 provides one mosquito net, a mosquito net which can mean life for a child. A child's who immune in already so compromised that a bite from a malaria-carrying-mosquito would result in death.

$22 provide a pair of chickens
       I was just thinking the other day as my husband was building a new coop for our chickens of how cool it would be to travel to impoverished areas of the world. He building the coop and I teaching the care of chicken, gathering eggs, leaving eggs for new chicks and butchering. Chickens are pretty easy.

$15 provides seeds for one family. Seeds to plant a garden, seeds to feed a family, seeds to give hope.


So what are you comfortable with skimming off your Christmas budget? Remember, even a little bit helps. And Dad really doesn't want another tie.