Shop With A Social Conscious: Starting Tonight

Houstonist has plans to provide you, constant reader, with our annual list of gift suggestions. However, if you are interested in getting a jump on shopping and are not one of those year 'round shoppers who locates the perfect gift in the clearance section, or at a craft show - we got the goods for you. Tonight from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. (and in conjunction with Bellaire's "Holiday in the Park"), you can shop the "Missions Mall" at ChristChurch Presbyterian on the Southeast corner of So. Rice and Bellaire. The mall will be located in the Sanctuary. Fair trade gifts will be available and pricing begins at $1.00 (what a great deal for some stocking stuffers), every purchase benefits someone in need. What? You prefer to give a philanthropic gift? They are selling alternative gift cards as well, in case you just want a more direct dollars-to-impact gift for your loved ones. Hey, we have a lead-riddled toy problem and most gift cards say "I care so much, I thought of you while buying my daily energy drink at the local Stop and Rob". So, why not give something that says "I reduced my carbon footprint and saved or benefited "insert worthwhile cause here"?

Plans already for this fine Thursday night? Not to worry, you have a second chance to shop on Sunday, December 2nd and Sunday, December 9th from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. at the same location, except in the Fellowship Hall, and, a light lunch will be available. Here's some more scoop on the gift cards:

Alternative Gift Cards
A description of each organization and the gift you will be purchasing.
Each purchase includes a gift card to be presented to the gift recipient.

Adopt A Chaplain - Gift Amount $25
www.adopt-a-chaplain.org

Your gift is a care package sent to a man or woman serving in our armed forces in combat zones.
The package contains comfort foods, toiletries and a phone card.

Since January 2005, volunteers from the Calvary Church and Cornerstone Life Foundation in Los Gatos, CA have mailed over 5500 care boxes to chaplains for distribution to our military personnel. Over 4000 boxes have gone to Iraq. Chaplains of all faiths receive the boxes for use in their ministry. These Chaplains will notice particular men and women who do not receive much mail or support from home and give them one of these care packages.

A note can be included in a box mailed overseas, a message of support for the member of our armed forces who receives it, notes that reflect respect, appreciation, and support to lift the lives of those courageously serving us.

Aid Sudan - Gift Amount $10
www.aidsudan.org

Your gift will provide “A SEMESTER OF SCHOOL SUPPLIES” to a child in a village in the southern Sudan. AID SUDAN builds and equips new schools while assisting in growing strong southern Sudanese communities committed to serving Jesus Christ.

Christian Community Service Center (CCSC) - Gift Amount - $5
www.ccschouston.org
Your gift is “Basic Perishable Food Items” of milk, bread and fresh fruit that will be given to a family that comes to CCSC seeking emergency services.

Christian Community Service Center (CCSC) is a grass roots coalition of 37churches dedicated to serving the less fortunate in this immediate area. ChristChurch Presbyterian is a longtime member of this coalition

The mission of the CCSC is to serve the poor, hungry, disabled, and otherwise needy while respecting their religious, ethnic,
or cultural differences. CCSC was created out of faith and founded in the belief that we are called to help all of God's children.

Doctors Without Borders - Gift Amount $1,$7 or $30
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org

Your gift is “PLUMPYNUT”, the food for life for a child in Niger, West Africa.

Every year, malnutrition kills 5 million children (one child every 6 seconds) and many of those children are born in Niger. Niger is the least developed country in Africa.

Nobel prize-winning relief group Doctors without Borders has developed Plumpynut. A remarkably simple concoction of basically “peanut butter” tasting nut, powdered milk, powder sugar which is enriched with vitamins and minerals. Plumpynut is inexpensive to produce, needs no cooking or refrigeration and children love its sweet taste. It is packaged in small “ketchup like” packages and mothers simply squeeze it into their child’s mouth.

Plumpynut may just be the most important advance to cure & prevent malnutrition around the world.

Living Waters for the World – Gift Amount $1,$5 or $20
www.livingwatersfortheworld.org

Your gift is “A SHARE OF A WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM” that will be installed in the Yucatan region of Mexico in 2008.

ChristChurch Presbyterian has joined with St. John’s Presbyterian and Living Waters for the World, to install 2 water purification systems with the Presbyterian Church of Mexico. We will provide clean water, health and hygiene education to a rural Mayan community.

Malaria No More
www.malarianomore.org
Your gift is “A MOSQUITO BED NET” for a person in Sub-Saharan Africa. A bed net can accommodate more than one person and lasts for years. Malaria mosquitoes generally bite during the night hours and Malaria is a highly preventable disease that kills more than 1 million people a year.

Why Malaria?, Why Now?:
 It kills more than 3000 children everyday.
 350 to 500 million cases annually.
 Young children and pregnant women are most like to become severely ill & die.
 It was eradicated in the U.S. over 50 years ago, yet more than 40% of the world’s population is still at risk.

Malaria No More is an inclusive grassroots movement founded in 2006 to help control & prevent malaria worldwide. They work in partnership with organizations like UNICEF, United Nations Foundation, Red Cross and United Way

Star of Hope – Gift Amount $10
http://www.sohmission.org

Your gift is a new Bath towel and wash cloth. This gift provides dignity and comfort to a resident of the homeless shelter. Towels are always in great demand at the shelter.

Trickle Up – Gift Amount $25
www.trickleup.org
Your gift is “A FUTURE WITH HOPE” to a person who is among the poorest of the poor in the world. TRICKLE UP empowers people living on less than $1.00 per day to take the first steps out of poverty. Micro enterprises are established with business training and seed capital. With a small business, a person can develop to their full potential using their “God Given” talents and strengthen their communities along the way.

Recent statistics of micro enterprises:
 95% of the businesses continue after the first year.
 80% expand.
 Women lead 78% of them.

Long Term Effect:
Studies of micro enterprises have consistently shown that successes lead to the family educating its children.

TRICKLE UP has enabled the startup of over 150,000 businesses in 120 countries, which has benefited the lives of over a half a million people.

ChristChurch Presbyterian
Missions Mall
5001 Bellaire Blvd.

Logo courtesy of ChristChurch Presbyterian