Gifts Of Hope

One of the most memorable gifts I have ever received was about four Christmas’s ago. We simply received a letter and a card stating that the family we were friends with had purchased a goat for a family in need on our behalf. Perhaps you have been lucky enough to have received one of these gifts that keeps on giving.

I must admit that I was skeptical about whether a family abroad actually receives a goat. So, I did my research and I was very pleased to find out that the donation goes to buy the very items that you are purchasing from Plan Canada’s Gifts of Hope collection. When you purchase a goat for a family, you are impacting the health and income of the family profoundly. They provide milk which means essential protein for growing children and selling the goats’ offspring provides an income for the family to pay for housing, food and schooling.

This year I am happy to be able to write about Plan Canada’s Gifts of Hope. I am a huge believer in these types of programs, not only because I try every year to cut down on the materialism that comes with Christmas but I think that gifts with meaning have been almost lost with the focus on “who got the coolest tech gift” this year.

Gifts of Hope are real projects that change real lives for the better, an ethical gift-giving program that gives twice: once to your gift recipient and once to a person abroad. This program encourages us to think outside the box and re-examine our notion of gift-giving, and consider that maybe we should be giving gifts that transform lives across the world.

I don’t think that these gifts should necessarily be only for the person who has everything. In my opinion, these are perfect for anyone who is meaningful to you. These gifts support programs dedicated to education, health, water, girls’ rights and livelihood. If you are the type of person who likes to give something more tangible, you can also add supporting merchandise such as a pair of beautiful silver earrings. When you purchase the pair of earrings for $25, not only are they matched for an additional $100 by another partner/foundation, they support a Youth Program that teaches young people vocational skills to help them create bright, strong futures.

There are so many gifts you can choose to give, from small to large that everyone can afford to choose something that makes a difference.  There are many matched gifts to choose from and they would be my first choice for gifting. A matched gift means that your gift is matched by another government, organizational partner or foundation.  You can start withschool essentials for $17 that is matched for a total of $119!  Or how about the quinoa project that is $35 but gets matched for a value of $245? If you are looking to spend more, I would certainly purchase the $120 gift ofliteracy training for two women, which is matched to a total of $600. You also get a free greeting card with your purchase that can be sent directly to your gift recipient. You can order online or call in, making it very easy to purchase a meaningful gift.  There are over40 meaningful gifts to choose from starting at $10.

So if you are looking to give something that has an impact on improving the lives of others and actually have the money go towards what you have bought, make sure to choose a Gift of Hope from Plan Canada.

You can watch a video of an inspiring class of children who raised money for a well. They give me hope for the future. We need more children like this in the world.

Happy Gift Giving everyone!

Love,

Karlynn