Alternative Gift Market Working Group

The Ames, Iowa, Alternative Gift Market is affiliated with Alternative Gifts International, and the UUFA Alternative Gift Market Working Group coordinates the Fellowship's involvement with this annual project.

Alternative Gift Market gifts and cards are available at the Fellowship and in downtown Ames in November and December each year.

In 2009 the Ames Alternative Gift Market contributed $8,330 to local projects in Ames and Story County and $14,354 to national and international projects through Alternative Gifts International.  UUFA members contributed more than $2,800 through their purchases of Alternative Gifts. 

What?

At the Alternative Gift Market, when you purchase an alternative gift, you receive a description of the item and a card of your choice that you can give or send to the recipient. You can choose from more than 30 local and global charities to honor friends and relatives for the holidays, weddings, anniversaries, and birthdays. Special alternative gifts will be available for children to buy for friends and relatives. 

Examples

Alternative gifts available this year are: the necessary supplies to help a Philippine family farm naturally by providing a goat, earthworms, and ducks; a bicycle ambulance for a village in Africa; training to use solar cookers to pasteurize water in Tanzania and Gambia; support for the Emergency Residence Project in Ames; and support for Global Builders, the Ames High-Uganda Project. 

If you have questions, contact Bonnie Bowen at 515-292-6923.