Published: October 28, 2007 10:56 pm         

Local church seeks to help take stress out of Christmas shopping

Staff reports



A local church again this year will help the community not only take the stress out of Christmas but also provide unique gift ideas for those who already have everything.

Making an effort to lower the stresses of shopping can make for a brighter, cheerier, happier holiday this season, organizers for the second annual A Charitable Market of Blessings say.

This year’s event is 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 1 and 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 2 at Central Christian Church, 1111 W. Broadway.

Any charitable organization in town wishing to participate may call 233-5700 for information. Deadline for booth contract is Nov. 15.

A Charitable Market of Blessings is an alternative Christmas gift idea that allows people to honor family and friends with a gift that benefits local, national and international charities and missions.

Organizers of the event suggest replacing the usual humdrum gifts — ties, sweaters, candles, CDs and DVDs — with clothes for an underprivileged child, a box of food for an entire family, livestock for an entire village or seeds to plant food.

Representatives from the organizations will have information available about what a specific monetary gift can purchase.

Jeanette Heitfeld, a member of the outreach committee at Central Christian Church, said giving to a charity in someone else’s name is a perfect gift for people who seem to already have everything.

“We wanted to do something different that could help,” Heitfeld said prior to last year’s event.

All proceeds from the event will go directly to charitable organizations and mission endeavors represented at the market. Represen-tatives from the organizations will take the donation and present gift-givers with a card to present to the recipient.

Just having one place to shop for everything is a stress reducer.

Last year, a project was started to provide a one-time, one-place stop for shopping. The endeavor will be repeated this year.

Fifteen local and global charities and mission booths will be set up to accept donations during A Charitable Market of Blessings. Some of the booths will have hand-crafted items for sale.

Each donation gets a Christmas gift card stating a gift was given in the recipient’s name to a particular charity.

All donors may receive a tax statement.