If you are a regular reader of Gadling, chances are you’re an avid traveler. The chances are also pretty high that you’ve been to some pretty screwed-up places on this planet where the locals suffer from all sorts of poverty and disease.
At some point or another, while taking this all in, a certain thought has crossed your mind: how can I help? Shortly afterwards, you return home and do nothing about it.
Well, now is your chance.
Alternative Gifts is a non-profit organization that seeks to reallocate the money spent on frivolous gifts and convert it into “life-giving gifts to a needy world.”
Their homepage provides the following examples;
For the cost of dinner and a movie: Provide permanent, accessible clean water for village folk in the Andes.
For the price of an iPod: Provide a fully equipped doctor’s kit in North Korea with basic diagnostic tools to enable doctors to deliver better health care.
For the price of a video game: Provide a wheelchair and give mobility, independence, dignity and hope to persons with disabilities in Cambodia.
So, if you haven’t purchased all your Christmas presents yet, considering giving an alternative gift to someone who really needs it. I think we can all get by with one less iPod or video game under the tree this year, don’t you?