The Alternative Christmas Market:
Give the Gift of Giving
Not surprisingly, many stores have had a Christmas aisle since late Septemer. It seems they are ready to cash in earlier and earlier every year. Now that the holidays are “officially” upon us, one thing most of us can agree on is that the season has become overly commercialized and has lost it's true meaning.
No matter which holiday you celebrate, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or the Seinfeld-inspired Festivus, we know the most basic building block of each of these is Love. Love for our family. Love for our friends. Love for our neighbors. True love is shown by spreading hope and hope never disappoints us.
We try to fulfill our kids every wish on their list, even if it means going into debt. But then they never even use half of the items we wrapped. We have to get Aunt Jojo a gift because she always gets us a gift, and so on and so forth.
What if there was a way to give a gift that means something? A gift that offers hope to someone in need? That is why the Alternative Christmas Market was conceived. Instead of giving gifts, people are encouraged to make a donation to an organization in the name of a loved one. The “gift” is then placed in a card and given on Christmas. People try to have the organization fit the interests of the recipient. For example, instead of buying a gift for Uncle Mike the Carpenter, people can make a donation to Habitat For Humanity so they can buy supplies to build a house. If Aunt Mary is a cook, one might give a donation to Second Harvest, so a needy family can eat.
The Alternative Christmas Market was introduced to Tallahassee in 1986 by John Davis at John Wesley United Methodist Church. The first two charities to participate were the Heifer Project and Big Bend Habitat For Humanity. But in the past 24 years, it has grown into a larger event and travels to 3 different local churches: John Wesley, Christ Presbyterian and Crawfordville United Methodist.
After John Davis “retired” as director, Cindy Cosper took over in 2006. Since it's inception, the Alternative Christmas Market has raised over $800,000 and each year's total is bigger than the last. 100% of all money raised is given to the agencies.
A typical trip to any of the 3 Alternative Christmas Markets is very informational and fun. All the organizations involved have booths set up in the church hall to let people know what they do for the community. There are some arts & crafts booths in case you would like to decorate your gift. You choose your charities and decide how much you would like to give each one you choose and in whose name each donation is in. Then you take the forms to the calligraphy station where cards are hand crafted just for that person announcing the blessing you gave in their name. All items are paid for all at once at the check-out. All gifts are also tax-deductible contributions.
This Christmas Give the Gift of Giving and Deliver Hope to Your Community.
Here are some Letters to the Editor at the Tallahassee Democrat about past Alternative Christmas Markets:
"The true meaning of Christmas has gotten lost in the packaging and the decorations that stores cram down our throats beginning in October; the pressure that our whole economy depends on how much we spend of money we don't have. By the time Christmas actually gets here we're tired of the whole production. BUT there is a remedy for that overwhelming, getting caught in the snowball feeling. At the alternative Christmas market our community can experience that true meaning of Christmas. It's about giving, not getting; it's about reaching out and helping someone else."-- Ellen Hicks, Letter to the Editor of the Tallahassee Democrat 12/08
"It's an extraordinary shopping experience! Shopping at an Alternative Christmas Market makes you realize the level of need in our community and the world and appreciate the people who serve others with great joy. And JOY is the attitude to have for this season of love, isn't it?"--Christie Kimbrel, Letter to the Editor, Tallahassee Democrat 12/08
This Year's Schedule is: (Click on the DATE to get more information: address, hours and map)
John Wesley United Methodist
Saturday, December 4th, 2010
Sunday, December 5th, 2010
Christ Presbyterian
Friday, December 10th, 2010
Saturday, December 11th, 2010
Crawfordville United Methodist
Saturday, December 11th, 2010
| Here is Just a Sampling of Agencies Participating There are more involved and each church may have some different ones. |
| Organization | Web Address | Description |
| Alzheimer's Project of Tallahassee | http://www.alzheimersproject.org/ | Trains and coordinates volunteers who provide relief to the caregivers of persons in the Tallahassee community who suffer from Alzheimer's disease. |
| America's Second Harvest of the Big Bend | http://www.fightinghunger.org/ | Warehouses and distributes surplus food to the needy through more than 250 non-profit agencies in 14 counties of Northwest Florida. |
| Big Bend Cares | http://www.bigbendcares.org/ | Big Bend Cares is a non-profit organization which provides education and comprehensive support to people who are infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS. Big Bend Cares serves the eight counties of the Big Bend. |
| Big Bend Habitat for Humanity | http://www.bigbendhabitat.org/ | Builds and rehabilitates homes with the help of local volunteers and the future homeowner. Homes sell at a non-profit selling price and are financed with a no-interest mortgage. |
| Big Bend Homeless Coalition | http://www.bigbendhc.org/ | Coordinates resources needed to help individuals and families move from homelessness to independent living. |
| Big Bend Hospice, Inc. | http://www.bigbendhospice.org/ | Assists terminally ill patients and their families in 8 counties of Florida's Big Bend. |
| Brehon Institute for Family Services | http://www.brehoninstitute.org/ | Works to improve the lives of children and families by providing services which produce healthy babies and prevent child abuse and neglect. Dedicated to improving the lives of children throughout the Florida Panhandle. |
| Capital City Kiwanis Club - Miracle League | http://www.tallahasseekiwanis.org/ | Working to eradicate iodine deficiency disorders worldwide and locally offering emergency shelter and short-term transitional housing for families in a housing crisis through ECHO's Bethany Family Apartments. |
| Capital City Youth Services | http://www.ccys.org/ | offers counseling and outreach services to youth and their families, and emergency shelter services to youth who are homeless, runaways, out of control, truant or in any type of crisis situation. |
| Catholic Charities | http://www.catholiccharitiesnwfl.org/ | Provides financial aid to meet specific needs of eligible families, including food, rent, medication and utilities. Food is available for immediate emergencies. Majority of people served fall below the poverty level. |
| Christ Presbyerian Youth Program | www.cpcusa.org/youth.htm | Presbyterian Youth Fellowship is an organization of youth in the 6th through 12th grade dedicated to assisting others and living a life of faith. We meet each week for a time of study, fellowship and service. |
| Damayan Garden Project | http://www.damayan.org/ | Helps Schools, low-income families, and communities to build organic gardens. Provides advice, materials and labor to help establish gardens. Damayan will partner with schools to help teachers learn how to use gardens in their classroom instruction. |
| ECHO Outreach Ministries, Inc. | http://www.echotally.org/ | Partners with Tallahassee area religious congregations, businesses and civic groups to provide emergency food, clothing, counseling and financial assistance to people in need. Jubilee Job-Link provides free job placement services. |
| Fellowship of Christian Athletes | http://www.fca.org/ | Provides young athletes a growing relationship with God. Provides positive qualities for young people. |
| Florida Disabled Outdoor Association | http://www.fdoa.org/ | Florida Disabled Outdoors Association enriches lives through accessible inclusive recreation and active leisure for all. |
| Good News Outreach Soup Kitchen | http://www.goodnewsoutreach.org/soupkitchen.html | The Good News Outreach Soup Kitchen works in conjunction with the Tallahassee Leon County Shelter by providing necessary supplies along with the noonday meal. |
| Grace Mission Episcopal Church | ww.gracemission.net | Grace Mission started with an idea in the minds of a small group of committed Episcopalians. The idea was for a radical kind of ministry that crossed racial, social, and economic lines to minister to the whole person. |
| Haiti Parish Twinning Program | http://www.parishprogram.org/ | We are a non-profit organization focused on creating lasting sister parish relationships in the U.S. or Canada and parishes in the country of Haiti. The parishes develop a mutual and enriching relationship of sharing, solidarity and understanding. |
| Heifer Project International | http://www.heifer.org/ | Helps poor families world-wide become self-sufficient by providing 22 kinds of food and income-producing animals and training in community development and environmentally-sound farming. |
| Humanitarian Universal Connexions | http://www.hispanicchildren.org/ | Relieve human suffering and poverty in Colombia, Ecuador and El Salvador by providing health care, education, and social services for children, families and the elderly. |
| In the Carpenter's Footsteps, Inc. | http://www.thecarpentersfootsteps.org/ | Group of Volunteers dedicated to Christian project world-wide, building foundations of hope. Provides services for churches and communities who need construction projects built or repaired. |
| Literacy Volunteers of Leon County, Inc. | http://www.literacyvolunteersleon.org/ | Provides 1-on-1 private, confidential basic reading and pre-GED skills to adults with low literacy skills, English language tutoring to adult Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), and after school tutoring for grades K-12. |
| Lutheran Social Services of North Florida | http://www.lssnf.org/ | Serves low-income and homeless families in North Florida through emergency child care assistance for families in crisis and transitional and supportive housing for the homeless. |
| Mothers in Crisis, Inc. | http://www.motheresincrisis.com/ | Reaches out to mothers in crisis because of drug and alcohol addiction through a variety of community-based programs and services. |
| Neighborhood Health Services | http://www.nhsclinic.org/ | Provides health care services to low-income and indigent residents of Tallahassee and the surrounding area. |
| Office of the Public Guardian | http://www.bigbendopg.org/ | The Office of Public Guardian, Inc., (OPG) serves adults with mental and/or physical disabilities as their court-appointed legal guardian when they are incapable of managing some or all of their affairs. |
| One Church One Child of Florida | http://www.ococfl.org/ | Faith based organization licensed in Florida as child adoptions and placement agency. Provides adoptions and foster care related services and independent adoption services. |
| PACE Center for Girls | http://www.pacecenter.org/ | PACE Center for Girls is a private, non-profit, gender specific program serving at risk girl from 12 to 17 years of age. |
| Southeastern Community Blood Center | http://www.scbcinfo.org/ | The Southeastern Community Blood Center is a private, not-for-profit organization, relying on private fundraising and fees from services we provide to sustain daily operations - we receive no government support. |
| Tallahassee Girls Choir of CHOICE | http://www.tallahasseegirlschoir.org/ | Provides residents of Tallahassee and surrounding communities an opportunity to perform and promote choral music for the benefit of the community and region. |
| Tallahassee Teen Challenge | http://www.teenchallenge.cc/ | A faith-based and Christ centered military-style program for boys ages 11-17 with life controlling problems. |
| Tallahassee-Leon Shelter, Inc. | http://www.tallahasseeleonshelter.com/ | The Shelter provides free, unconditional and unlimited lodging accommodations to guests; between 120-150 each night. It provides showers and towels, hygiene items, clothing, dinner and breakfast, crisis intervention services, and more. |
| Ten Thousand Villages of Tallahassee | http://www.tallahassee.tenthousandvillages.com/ | Non-profit, fair trade store that is helping alleviate poverty through the sale of beautiful handmade crafts, delicious coffee, chocolate, and soup and dip mixes. |
| Thornwell Home for Children | http://www.thornwell.org/ | Provides homes and schooling for over 400 children suffering emotional stress resulting from separation of their families from abuse, divorce or financial instability. |
| Treatment Resources Education for Animals in Temporary Shelter | http://www.treatsinc.org/ | Provide outreach and assistance to our community by promoting responsible pet ownership and lessening the burden of animal overpopulation through free spay and neuter surgeries, medical assistance and humane education.
|
Tags: Tallahassee Events Christmas Gifts Charity
