Gifts
That Keep On Giving
Do-gooder
goods aren't as boring as you might think.
BY ALYSSA
ISENSTEIN
This year, don't give till it hurts, give till it helps.
Gifts that benefit charitable groups are never too expensive,
and they sort of have a built-in safeguard against disappointment.
After all, how can that finicky mother or colleague find
fault with a present that does double duty as a donation?
Commemorative gifts, for example, are an ingenious choice
for those dastardly folks who already have everything.
No matter how attractive and practical that Aino Aalto
glassware seems to you, most people with established households
already own a nice set of tumblers. And those geode bookends?
Just another tchotchke. A tree planted in one's honor,
though--that's perfect. It won't add clutter to the home,
and it certainly avoids issues of size and color. This
eco-friendly gift isn't novel anymore but, hey, there
are still a lot of trees that need a place to put in roots.
For $25-$49, Friends of Trees (282-8846, ext. 17),
will plant a seedling and send a card to the designated
person. $50 or more gets you a grove of six seedlings
and a frameable certificate. No dirty work involved for
either of you.
For your animal-mad friends who certainly don't need
another cedar-shaving dog bed or 12-pack of catnip mice
for their darlings, show how much you care about pet passion
by making a gift donation to the Oregon
Humane Society (285-7722, ext. 240). The organization
will send a card to the honoree (or surviving family)
when you donate in honor or memoriam of someone special.
Or, for $100, place an inscripted brick in the sidewalk
of the Humane Society's new building; $250 gets you an
inscripted paving stone to be laid in the entrance way.
Too abstract? Go beyond Unicef greeting cards and buy
tangible goods from groups that use the proceeds to provide
various social services. Every year, Our Children's
Store sets up shop just for the holidays, selling
merchandise to raise money for 43 local charities that
help kids. This year, the store is bigger than ever (Northeast
12th Avenue and Weidler Street, 281-7709) and offers a
very gift-conducive selection of stuff you'd probably
buy anyway--beaded necklaces, housewares, garden accessories,
toys, Christmas and Hanukkah decorations. You get maximum
bang for your buck here, because the store space is donated
and all employees are volunteers.
For a more worldly double-whammy gift, try Beyond
Borders (1221 SW Alder St., 274-5434), which offers
hand-crafted goods made by artisans in developing countries.
The store serves as the retail outlet for the Paraclete
Society, a nonprofit that provides marketing assistance
and small-scale economic development aid to low-income
crafters throughout the world. The goods sold inside the
cozy store include exotic instruments, handmade paper,
ceramics, tapestries and vivid hand-woven clothing.
Similar to Beyond Borders is Ten Thousand Villages
(3508 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 231-8832), a store devoted entirely
to fairly traded goods. The busy shop on Hawthorne is
one of 150 stores in the nonprofit chain that provides
a non-exploitative export marketplace for craftspeople
in countries like Guatemala and Ethiopia. Choose a hand-loomed
rug from Pakistan or funky string instrument from Indonesia.
Finally, give to someone you don't even know and yourself
at the same time. With its Gift of Sight program,
the Lions Club (1410 SW Morrison St., Suite 760, 827-6952)
collects used glasses and makes them available to those
who don't have access to proper eye care. But here's where
you get in on the deal: Bring in your used eyeglasses
to Decades Vintage Company (328 SE Stark St., 223-1177)
and the shop will not only pass along the glasses to the
Lions Club but also give you 10 percent off of an unusual
pair of cat-eyes from its fabulous selection of unused
vintage frames.
