Before purchasing a gift for someone who has everything, here's a list packed with ideas that promise to help bring joy to the world of others.
These gifts don't require miles of wrapping paper or hours of wandering the mall. And chances are they'll leave the person receiving the gift with a warm and fuzzy feeling. And that's what the holidays are about, right?
Sleeping Children Around the World provides bed kits to children in developing countries. Each $30 donation provides a bed kit that consists of a mat or mattress, pillow, sheet, blanket, mosquito net (if applicable), clothes, towel and school supplies. No portion of a bed kit donation is spent on administration. Travelling volunteers, at their own expense and without benefit of a tax receipt, go to countries to supervise the distribution of bed kits, photograph children with their bed kits and write articles for the donor newsletter.
Cost: $30 for one bed kit.
Visit www.scaw.org/index.html
Bloorview Kids Rehab offers a Gift of Possibility list. Visit www.bloorview.ca to see what the centre needs most.
Listed as a priority item is the Ventilator Fund.
This gift of $500 provides state-of-the-art, computerized and sophisticated ventilators for young in-patients. These ventilators are the key to independence for children with diseases such as muscular dystrophy, emphysema and chronic lung disease. Each unit valued at $17,000.
A Snoezelen cart is an innovative sensory environment renowned for its therapeutic, healing, stimulation, relaxation and leisure benefits. The cart provides the joy of Snoezelen for those children unable to leave their room to attend the in-patient Snoezelen room.
Contribute to the Snoezelen Portable Cart Fund: $75.
Day Respite, give a family the gift of a day off.
Taking even a short break from the demands of caring for a child with a chronic illness or physical or developmental disability can be difficult for family caregivers. Bloorview's day respite programs give families a much-needed break while providing the child with the illness or disability with opportunities to play and interact with other children in a safe and stimulating environment.
Cost: $110 per child.
Kids like to get a reward after doing a chore or coming through something difficult. Our specialists use every kind of small prize to create fun for our kids and to help them through sometimes-difficult medical procedures. Includes bracelets, joke books, hockey cards, sticker books, candy and more.
Cost: $35.
The Reading Room at Sick Kids is a children's library for the patients in the hospital. Your gift of books for the Reading Room helps ease the stay in hospital for patients.
Cost: $25.
Car seats bring patients safely home. Some patients, who have been at Sick Kids since they were born, are going home for the first time.
Cost: $80
Infusion pumps or smart pumps are used to accurately deliver solutions (medication, blood, chemotherapy) to the patient. The pump monitors the rate and amount delivered to the patient and has safety mechanisms to ensure the safe delivery of solutions.
Cost: $3,000.
Stop in at UNICEF Canada online at www.shopunicef.ca to purchase items offering gifts of hope, play and health. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, foundations, businesses and governments.
Plumpy nut.
This delicious nutty spread provides vital nutrients for hungry children. One order contains 27 sachets.
Cost: $13.
Pencils for schools.
This gift provides a pencil for everyone in the school.
Cost: $15.
Toys and games.
A child gets his or her own box of play items: a hand puppet, skipping rope, a hopscotch game and a soccer ball. For children who have lived through ongoing violence and conflict.
Cost: $35.
Sport-in-a-box.
This gift proves to be a vital item during emergency situations. It allows up to 90 children to engage in team sports activities, interact with other children and have fun.
Cost: $300.
World Vision offers a range of meaningful gifts for the holidays. Items such as a hygiene kit or fruit trees provide for those in need.
Hygiene Kit for a Child.
A kit filled with things like toothpaste, a toothbrush, shampoo, soap and more.
Cost: $30.
Fruit trees are a source of plentiful and nutritious food that can sustain children year after year. With a gift of 10 trees, families can harvest enough fruit to reinforce resistance to diseases. Extra fruit and juice can be sold or traded for additional food and income.
Cost: $60 for 10 fruit trees.
If you are looking for a gift of livestock, look no further than Heifer International.
It's the gift that keeps on giving. It provides training and related services to small-scale farmers and communities worldwide. Each participant in the program becomes a donor and gives the animal's offspring to another family in need.
For details about this organization, visit www.heifer.org