Give a Meaningful Gift this Christmas

This post was written by Colleen Easley on December 10, 2008

Each year Dale and I contribute 5% of the gross earnings that we receive from our home business – EasyCall Communications – to Mercy Corps.  For 29 years, Mercy Corps has been working in countries where communities are recovering from disaster, conflict or economic collapse.  Their mission statement: Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities.

Last year we started a new tradition in our family by directing our donation to the purchase of various Mercy Kits in the names of our 7 grandchildren.  Each child was invited to review the types of “kits” available and make their own choice.  Several choose “goat kits” because they raise goats themselves.  Our grandson who loves bugs, chose the “beehive kit.”  Depending on the cost of a kit, some were able to purchase several kits.

As we contemplate the economy this year, we realize that there is very little we all really need, yet there is so much need in other parts of the world.  We are thankful to be in the position of being able to again purchase Mercy Kits to help others around the world.

Last weekend we were taking two of our grandchildren on an outing.  On the way the kids told us about their mom giving $2 to a “houseless” man with a sign that was standing on a street corner. It apparently made a very big impression on them and was likely the first time they realized there actually were homeless people right here among us.

Our trip was going to include a ride on the Santa Train in Tacoma. Our grandchildren have never believed in Santa Claus, but they still find him amusing, so I asked them both what they would ask Santa for.  The 4 year old girl asked for a pony – of course!  But the 9 year old surprised me in that he had no ideas.  He said he thought he had everything he needed.  He ended up telling Santa that he wanted for all the poor people to have enough food.  Wow – what a heart of gold at such a young age!  Santa said he wanted to keep him!

You just can’t have Christmas with children without having some gifts to open, but like last year, we will be channeling our resources towards Mercy Kits in the kids’ names.  Each child will receive a gift card that tells them a little bit about the kit that was purchased in their names.

The Mercy Kit project not only helps those in developing counties, but it is also an excellent tool for getting children involved and educating them to the needs of others.  The economy may be bad this year, but I believe it has opened people’s hearts beyond measure to help those who are not so fortunate.  I think it’s because we can more easily see just how “wealthy” we are when we have the basic necessities of life when others are struggling just to feed and cloth their families.

Mercy Corps is not the only organization to make an impact, but it an organization I know I can trust to manage our donations responsibly.  Other options would include World Vision and Heifer International. Other related sites I’ve found recently are In Lieu of a Gift which allows you to send party invitations with a request for a donation to the charity of your choice in lieu of a gift, and Gaiam fair trade shopping options that allow you to purchase artisanal crafts as gifts or for yourself while empowering craftspeople to preserve their rich cultural traditions and create better lives for their families and communities.

What’s the take away?

Holiday shopping does not have to be extravagent and stressful.  By giving a charitable gift in someone’s name, you can spread holiday cheer beyond our borders and gain a sense of well being unatainable in material gifts.

Catalog Choice – Good For You and the Environment!

This post was written by Colleen Easley on January 27, 2008

Were you as overwhelmed with catalogs this past holiday season as we were? If you’re like most Americans, you probably were. It just makes me sick to think of all the resources that go into printing and mailing all those catalogs. For awhile I was saving them all in one big box just to see how many we got. I finally threw them into the recycling bin when the stack got to be about a foot tall! I personally try very hard to stay out of stores during the holidays, but I don’t shop from catalogs; I do my shopping on-line. It just seems like the greener way to shop.

Well hopefully next Christmas I won’t be getting so many catalogs because just before Christmas I found a website called Catalog Choice. Catalog Choice is a free service that allows you to opt-out of getting paper catalogs in the mail. To use Catalog Choice, you’ll need to create an on-line account. You’ll also need copies of the catalogs you want to opt-out from because you’ll need your customer number off the back.

Once I had my account set up it was easy to decline the catalogs I didn’t want to get any longer. It takes some time (up to ten weeks) for the merchants to take you off their mailing lists, but if after that time period, you still continue to receive declined catalogs, you can report the infraction to Catalog Choice and they will follow up with the merchant.

One great feature of the service is they allow you to list multiple addresses and names. This was good for us because some catalogs came to me and some to Dale. Some to the home address and some to the PO Box. Having the actual catalog in front of us when opting-out insured we had the right name, address and customer number to enter.

As I write this, I’m reading the blog over at Catalog Choice and see that they were actually featured on the Today Show 2 days ago. What a coincidence! I’ve had links to Catalog Choice on some of my other sites for several months and have been meaning to write this article for a couple days now, so I’m sorry I missed the show. I’m overjoyed that the site is gaining so much publicity. 57,000 new members signed up on January 25th as a direct result of the Today Show. It shows that people are really wanting to clean out their mailboxes and help reduce waste. There are now over 500,000 people enrolled who are opting out of almost 6 million catalogs! Cutting down on catalog waste is good for everyone, including the merchants by lowering their costs of distribution and helping them better target their marketing.

So What’s the Take Away?

“The mission of Catalog Choice is to reduce the number of repeat and unsolicited catalog mailings, and to promote the adoption of sustainable industry best practices. We aim to accomplish this by freely providing the Catalog Choice services to both consumers and businesses. Consumers can indicate which catalogs they no longer wish to receive, and businesses can receive a list of consumers no longer wanting to receive their catalogs.” – Catalog Choice mission statement

So what do you think? Are you going to enroll at Catalog Choice? Have you already enrolled? We’d like to hear your comments. I think it’s too early to tell if it’s working for me yet since it hasn’t yet been 10 weeks. Most of my declined catalogs are still showing as unconfirmed, but a few are confirmed. At least none are refused!

WWOOF – Who let the Dogs Out? Not!

This post was written by Colleen Easley on January 22, 2008

Have you heard the term WWOOFING? I have to admit that although I had heard it once or twice in the past, I really had no idea what it was all about. But in the past weeks it become a little more personal when my brother, Bruce sent an email home about his WWOOFING experiences in New Zealand.

Bruce is a retired elementary school teacher living on San Juan Island in Washington state. He is married to Tina, who is of Australian heritage, and this past fall they embarked on a year long trip to Australia and New Zealand. Currently he and Tina are WWOOFING on a dairy farm at the southern end of the south island of NZ and they plan to do another project at the northern end of the island once they are done at that farm.

When our mother got the email about this WWOOF experience, she was a little confused as to what it was all about. I told her I’d look into it more and here is what I’ve found.

WWOOF. It stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms and was started in the UK in 1971. It provides volunteer opportunities for all ages and levels of experience. You can WWOOF in over 70 countries in any season for variable durations. It’s a great way to get around the world “on the cheap” and have fun learning new things.

In return for your work you generally receive food, accommodation, and training for the project you’re working on. Although most WWOOF opportunities involve either organic farming or gardening, there are also opportunities for handy persons, cooks, teachers, builders, child care and and just about any other skill you might have.

WWOOF volunteers do not pay for their stay and WWOOF hosts do not pay their volunteers for their help. There is a small fee to join a WWOOF organization in the country where you want to work.

This sounds like fun and I’m not surprised that my brother has become involved with WWOOF. He has always been the more adventurous one in the family. I get my adventure fix every summer by heading up to Alaska to work as a tour guide, but someday when I finally retire from that adventure, maybe Dale and I will look into WWOOFING.

At http://www.wwoof.org/ that they have a list of all the countries that have a WWOOF organization. Let’s see now – where should we go first?? Of course you can WWOOF in the US as well as in Canada. It all depends on how far you want to travel.

So What’s the Take Away?

WWOOF has become an international movement that is helping people share more sustainable ways of living. It’s an affordable way to travel, it’s educational, and you make lots of new friends. And it’s all about going green and the low carbon footprint that we’re hearing so much about these days. If you’ve got the time, but lack the money for a luxury vacation, maybe WWOOFING is for you.