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Leesburg Gift Fair Shows Shoppers' Altruistic Side
Gifts at the alternative holiday fair include cards featuring artwork by Elaine Nunnally. The fair opened last weekend in downtown Leesburg.
(By Melissa Arseniuk -- Loudounextra.com)
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Lisa Kloz said she knows how alternative gifts help local people because she is one of them. She was volunteering Saturday at the booth of Friends of Loudoun County Mental Health, one of the organizations represented at the fair and one of several agencies that helped her leave the "dark, dark, dark, scary place" she had found herself in, she said.
"For the first time in my life, I feel supported," she said. "That whole feeling of personal helplessness is gone. . . . It's huge, it makes me feel empowered."
Nick Leischen was on the hunt for a good cigar shop Saturday when he passed the Founders Building and decided to go in. After speaking to Kloz and other volunteers, he used the money he had expected to spend on cigars on an alternative gift. Leischen's $25 gift for Friends of Loudoun County Mental Health will help pay the food and utilities bill of one of the agency's clients.
"It's Christmas, and there's a lot of people that aren't as fortunate as I am in my life," he said.
The fair generated more than $14,000 over the weekend, and organizers hope to reach $30,000 by the end of the month. That amount would be a record.
Other services funded by the donations include essential items for a child in emergency care, grocery pickup and delivery for seniors and a trip to the vet for a homeless dog.
For information on the fair, call 703-779-3616 orhttp:/
