What if, this holiday season, you could forgo purchasing yet another sweater for that difficult-to-buy-for person on your list and were able to give something truly meaningful instead? And what if, in doing so, you could contribute to your community and avoid tramping around in the annual shopping frenzy?
Next weekend, St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church in Lansdowne will hold what organizers call Loudoun County's first alternative gift fair. Shoppers will be able to make donations to local charities and nonprofit groups and receive a gift card with details that they can give to friends and relatives.
The Rev. Jeunee Cunningham: "I really felt there is so much need in this area."
(Tracy A. Woodward -- The Washington Post)
|
|
"I really felt there is so much need in this area," said St. Gabriel's pastor, the Rev. Jeunée Cunningham, who attended a similar fair in the 1990s at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Woodbridge, where she was a parishioner. "I get calls all the time with requests for help with basic needs like paying an electric bill. The county is growing so rapidly, that even the local food bank hasn't been able to keep up with the need."
Peggy Coleman, outreach coordinator for St. Gabriel's, said the church invited about 20 charities to participate, selected 10 and asked each to come up with three to five specific donations people could make. The donations range from $5 to $100, but Coleman said they would be happy to accept larger donations to the organizations, in which case they would improvise a certificate on-site.
Link, an association of 13 churches that provides emergency food, furniture, clothing and financial aid to Sterling residents, is offering a $15 or $25 grocery gift certificate to buy perishable food. The YMCA is selling "$50 off Loudoun County Summer Day Camp 2005." Donations of $20, $50 or $100 may be made to the Good Shepherd Alliance to pay for housing one person in a homeless shelter for one day or to pay for running the shelter for one hour. A $5 donation to the Loudoun Association for Retarded Citizens (LARC) will cover an initial telephone consultation on disability-related benefits, resources and services for people with disabilities or their family members.
Lyle Werner, executive director of the Loudoun Free Clinic, who acted as liaison for the nonprofits for the event, said donations to the clinic would go toward medications for specific illnesses such as diabetes for people without insurance.
Other groups taking part include Loudoun Volunteer Caregivers, Loudoun Literary Council, Loudoun Therapeutic Riding, American Red Cross and Loudoun Cares.
"Our main concern was that the donations collected at the [fair] would deliver services to Loudoun residents," Coleman said.
The two-day fair will also provide an opportunity for residents to meet directly with local nonprofit volunteers and find out more about what they can do to combat homelessness, unemployment, domestic abuse and other problems. Bob Miller of Severn Mortgage Corp. in Leesburg is covering the cost of live music and refreshments, and there will be children's crafts and activities, including an appearance by Santa Claus.
Although there are other annual gift fairs in the Washington area, including the D.C. Happy Hour Fair, the Takoma Park Alternative Gift Fair and John Calvin Presbyterian Church's Alternative Gift International Christmas Market in Annandale, Coleman said this fair was the first of its kind in Loudoun, with efforts focused solely on the local community.
"Our idea for the gift fair is really part of a larger vision of our church to help fill in the gaps created by recent county budget cuts," Coleman said.
Cunningham said the alternative gift fair in Prince William County that originally spurred the idea for the Loudoun fair was more international in scope, " so there was a wide variety of gift options, and overseas, your dollars go really far." But she decided to take the idea of the alternative gift fair and apply it locally.
"We really hope the fair will become an annual event," she said.
The fair will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. next Sunday at Belmont Ridge Middle School, 19045 Upper Belmont Pl., Leesburg. Cash or checks only. For more information, call 703-779-3616 or visit www.saintgabriels.net.
