How’s this for a unique Christmas gift? Buy a pair of shoes for a person with leprosy. Or some crutches or an artificial limb. Send the gift in the name of a friend or family member and let them get the tax receipt. Someone in India or Nigeria will thank you.
It’s a growing trend in Canadian agencies, and it’s catching on among Canadian Christians. Instead of racking their brains for meaningful gifts for people who already have too much, more and more givers are opting for something that will provide a better life for someone else.
“Canadians love it,” Glenn Waterman, director of development for The Leprosy Mission Canada (TLMC), says of alternative gift-giving. “It’s very useful for families where everyone is fairly well off.” People who are socially conscious or who want to simplify their lives are also attracted to directing their gifts overseas.
That’s good news for The Leprosy Mission Canada, whose main purpose is to provide funding to care for victims of leprosy in 25 countries, as well as to educate Canadians about the disease.
TLMC has been producing a gift catalogue since 1999. It features a line of products—including children’s games, trivets and handmade Christmas cards—made by people with leprosy as well as those who have other disabilities. Since the artisans are often missing fingers, the crafts are not ornate. One man, a former potter in India who has lost almost all his fingers, is now producing ceramic piggy banks.
When you buy a piggy bank or a trivet, the money goes to support the person who made it.
But it’s the direct gift of medical care—a feature introduced in the catalogue just two years ago—that has caught the attention of an increasing number of Canadians. “That really resonated” with Canadians, says Waterman. “What they really wanted was the opportunity to help with a gift for someone.”
A small gift will provide bandages; a larger one a prosthetic limb; some gifts might pay for cataract surgery. For $350 a person can provide the medical help it takes to cure a person of leprosy. The gift amounts include administration and delivery, says Waterman. “We track it very carefully.” Gifts of care also include housing and training for people with leprosy.
The spring catalogue is online at www.leprosy.ca and the Christmas catalogue will be out in October. It all adds up to a more meaningful Christmas ahead—both for the givers and the recipients. “There are a lot of extremely compassionate givers in Canada,” Waterman notes.
