Ultimate Guide to Christmas Gifts That Make A Difference

November 25, 2014 By LeeAnn G. Taylor

It’s Thanksgiving and families everywhere are gathered on couches, huddled around the Black Friday ads, planning their shopping strategy for the biggest shopping day of the year.

Last year a record 92 million people shopped on Black Friday, with each person spending an average of $407.23 for a total of $57.4 billion spent in one day alone.

But have you considered this truth?

The way we spend our money determines the type of world we want to live in. – Bethany Tran

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What if we used our Christmas gift money to purchase gifts that make a difference in the world?

Tuesday, December 2nd is “Fair Trade Tuesday,” an ethical shopping movement in response to Black Friday and Cyber Monday to feature fair trade, ethical, and eco-friendly brands.

Instead of shopping with only the best price in mind, what if we used our purchase power to make choices that empowered others around the world…

– other mothers, fathers, children, orphans, and business owners –

…people just like you and me but with less access to basic needs like clean water, a consistent food supply, a stable government, and fair wages.

This year while attending the Allume conference I was introduced to an incredible group of organizations dedicated to partnering with artisans in impoverished communities to make a difference in their lives. These organizations provide a market for the artisans’ products, creating situations for sustainable income, developing strong community, affirming dignity, and sharing hope.

I’m excited to introduce you to some of these incredible organizations!

In addition to featuring several organizations I’ve connected with directly, you’ll also find a list of organizations below that you can feel confident about purchasing through to ensure your gifts this Christmas not only make your family and friends feel loved and appreciated, but that improve the lives of others around the world.

Ultimate Guide to Christmas Gifts that Make a Difference

The Root Collective

Mission:

The Root Collective partners with small-scale artisan businesses in marginalized communities in Guatemala, Kenya, and Peru to promote change through dignified jobs.

Read more about the artisans behind the beautiful products. Otto, the shoemaker, is my favorite story! He’s a former gang member employing other former gang members to teach them business skills and create opportunities for a better future.

Featured products:

ballet flats, handwoven scarves, tote bags, and unique beaded necklaces

Three Avocados Coffee

Mission:

Three Avocados is a non-profit organization founded as a creative solution to ending the global water crisis and educating children, starting with Uganda.

100% of net proceeds provide clean water in Uganda and education in Nicaragua. They aim to provide coffee lovers with a product that enables them to make a 100% socially responsible choice when purchasing coffee.

Featured Products:

Nicaraguan and Ugandan coffee, tumblers, coffee mugs, shirts

*Whole bean coffee for $11.99 a bag!

Ornaments 4 Orphans

Mission:

Ornaments4Orphans’ mission is to empower indigenous artisans through fair trade practices, invest in the holistic care of orphaned children through partners, and provide customers with an opportunity to purchase beautiful, handmade items that bless others.

Featured Products:

ornaments, nativity scenes, jewelry, stocking stuffers, and bowls

ViBella Jewelry

Mission:

At the heart of our mission, Vi Bella impacts the lives of at-risk women in Haiti, Mexico, and the United States by providing them jobs which pay good wages in safe, encouraging work environments.

Vi Bella artisans “up-cycle” discarded plastic and glass bottles, metal bottle caps and paper, transforming them into unique, handmade jewelry that is truly a work of art. They then invest all of the profits back into the artisans’ communities, which brings the transformation full circle.

Featured Products:

“up-cycled” necklaces, earrings, gift items, messenger bags, and youth jewelry

Nozomi Project: Beauty from Brokenness

Mission:

Nozomi, which means ‘hope’ in Japanese, is a social enterprise bringing sustainable income, community, dignity and hope to the women in Ishinomaki, Japan and the surrounding region by training women to craft unique jewelry products. One third of these women are single mothers and grandmothers; most of these women lost their livelihood, a family member and/or their home when the tsunami crashed their world in 2011.

Nozomi women are creating one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry featuring broken pieces of pottery left in the wake of the tsunami. Each product line has been named by a Nozomi woman in honor of a loved one in her life. As broken shards are being transformed into beautiful treasures, so too lives are being filled with renewed dignity and hope.

Featured Products:

necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings, framed pendants, and accessories

Work of Worth International

Mission:

Work of Worth is an organization dedicated to utilizing the power of commerce to free the oppressed throughout the world. Work of Worth exists primarily as an import and distribution company for the purpose of connecting entrepreneurs and businesses in the developing world to the Western market.

The Work of Worth team desires to see freedom and dignity in the lives of many through two primary ways:

WoW imports and sells fair trade merchandise crafted by entrepreneurs in the developing world in order to promote the long-term success of these businesses. Meet some of the talented entrepreneurs.
WoW is creating and implementing a “Work of Worth” certification process. Going beyond “fair trade,” a Work of Worth certification or approval would indicate that a product is manufactured by a company that aligns with WoW’s ethos of non-discrimination, paying a fair wage and modeling respectful treatment of their workers.

You can find out more about Kristi Griem, the current COO, and the Work of Worth story on this podcast of The God-Centered Mom.

Featured Products:

bath and spa products, totes, bags, leather and paper products, scarves

Eternal Threads

Mission:

Eternal Threads is dedicated to improving the lives of women and children most at risk of extreme poverty, trafficking and other forms of exploitation by providing sustainable livelihoods through income generating projects.

Featured Products:

bags, clothing, home decor, jewelry, toys

Even More Organizations With Gifts That Make A Difference:

Amani Africa

Amani ya Juu (“peace from above” in Swahili) is a sewing and training program for marginalized women in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, and Liberia. They offer a wide selection of fair trade handmade African handbags, home & kitchen décor, jewelry, and children’s items that are made out of local African materials.

Amazima Ministries

Handmade Ugandan necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and children’s jewelry. Organization founded by Katie Davis, author of Kisses From Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption.

Better Life Bags

Design your own hand-crafted bag created by women who otherwise would be unable to work.

The LuLu Tree

Creating a market products made by mothers in the slum of Katwe, Uganda. Art, baby items, clothing, footwear, jewelry, and more.

New Life Threads

Helping women and children in Rwanda move to a place of thriving, bringing dignity, life, love and hope to vulnerable women and families in developing countries. Bags, purses, tablecloths, and table runners

Sak Saum

Battling human trafficking through a ministry dedicated to the rescue, restoration, transformation and rehabilitation of vulnerable and exploited women and men in Cambodia. Providing cross-body bags, accessories, totes, and jewelry.

Trades of Hope

Jewelry, scarves, stationary, handbags, decor and more crafted by artisans in 10 countries (including the USA) working to break the cycle of poverty.

This post contains affiliate links {full disclosure}. If you click through an affiliate link to make a purchase, we receive a small percentage of the sale at no extra charge to you. For organizations that use this model, this is part of their marketing strategy to get the word out about their products. Proceeds help pay for this site and support our recently adopted Compassion International child, Eva, from Columbia.

What other fair trade organizations providing a market for artisans in marginalized communities are you familiar with? I’d love for you to share in the comments!

Want to save this list to refer to later? Pin the image below to Pinterest! Use the social sharing buttons below to make it quick and easy! I’ll be adding to this list as I find even more great organizations in the coming weeks.

Parenting With Purpose: Day 17 – Kids Can Make A Difference! {The Glow Campaign}

October 20, 2014 By LeeAnn G. Taylor

My daughter’s current favorite song on the Seeds Family Worship CD, Seeds of Courage, Vol. 1. is Young (1 Timothy 4:12).

Hearing her sing the words:

Don’t let anyone

Look down on you

Because you are young

But set an example to the believers…

…well, it just gets me every time. She specifically requests the song now and requires that I crank it up so loud that the neighboring vehicle can clearly hear it when we’re stopped at a stoplight.

Knowing that her little 5 year old heart is learning this truth that you can make a difference when you’re young early on? Well, be still my heart. This is what it’s all about.

(If you missed it, be sure to go back and check out the post all about Memorizing Scripture With Music.)

Empower Your Kids to Make a Difference!

Today I want to share with you a great new resource for equipping your kids to make a difference.

The Glow Campaign is a movement of moms who are passionate about teaching their kids biblical concepts like justice and how to be a good neighbor.

I encourage you to hop on over to the Inspired to Action blog and read the story behind The Glow Campaign. It’s an inspiring story of how two kids had an idea and two moms empowered their kids to make a difference.

What I love about this story is the moms didn’t stop with the impact their two girls made. Instead, they took a small idea and they’re modeling to their kids how a small step of obedience can make a big difference in God’s kingdom!

You and your kids can participate too by joining the Glow Crew!

What happens when your kids join the Glow Crew?

You will be emailed a “Secret Mission” every month to complete in your own community. These are simple, free ways to teach your kids how to impact their own neighborhood. Missions might taking cookies to an elderly neighbor or writing an encouraging note to a kid who gets picked on at school.

In addition to the Secret Missions, your kids can participate in some of the larger projects. What kid wouldn’t want to have a lemonade stand to raise money for a clean water well in Haiti? It’s a movement of kids to help other kids.

Do you have other ideas for ways to help your kids make an impact in the world? Share in the comments and your idea may be featured in the future on the blog!

Looking for more ideas and resources for Parenting With Purpose as you create a God-centered home? You can find the whole series here.

No Such Thing As “Just A Mom”

August 15, 2014 By LeeAnn G. Taylor

Maybe you’ve heard it before. You’re “just a mom,” so what big impact can you make on the world?

Doing laundry, picking up toys, wiping noses, washing dishes, trekking to the playground, bathing kids, picking up toys (again)…how is that making a difference?

I’m here to tell you…there’s no such thing as “just a mom.”

Especially when you don’t have one.

Meet Hannah.

She’s the cutie in the middle with the huge grin on her face. (name changed to protect privacy) She doesn’t have a mom.

Neither do the 25 other kids standing with her and most of the 250 other kids living in her community in South Africa.

orphan south african

Here’s the thing.

Instead of a mom, she has caregivers. And those caregivers do the absolute best they can do take care of her and her friends.

But as a mom, have you ever had a day where you just needed some HELP?

You’re not “just a mom” because taking care of littles is HARD. WORK. people! And a lot of the time, we need help. It’s no small job to take care of another person’s physical needs and to be responsible for their emotional and spiritual development too.

Your daily investment into their little lives makes a difference today and for eternity.

What about Hannah?

And those who are functioning as “mom” and are investing into her life? Well, they could use some help too.

It’s been said, “it takes a village to raise a child.” In this little community in South Africa, this is so true!

And guess what? Our little community here online? We can help!

Already, members of Lisa-Jo Baker’s blog community have contributed enough money to build a watering station/laundry facility, vegetable garden, and playground to this community in South Africa they’ve adopted. I’m one of them!

Lisa-Jo Baker and her dad sharing hope orphaned & vulnerable children in the Maubane community in South Africa

And now, members of our community here at The Mosaic Life (that’s YOU!)…well, we’re going to join them!

Here’s your opportunity to join in:

Watering Station – fully funded & built

Vegetable Garden – fully funded & producing veggies

Playground – fully funded & plans prepared

Community Center (admin portion) – $28,474 of $40,000 raised

Maybe $11,526 more to raise seems like a big number to you…but do you remember the “it takes a village to raise a child” concept? It’s true with life-changing generosity too.

UPDATE: In less than 24 hours, Lisa-Jo’s community has raised almost $4,ooo. That’s 160 “just a mom”s giving $25 each as part of this ‘village’.

communitycenter

Here’s my challenge to our community.

Right now, it would take 308 people giving $25 each to raise the remainder of the funds needed for the community center.

Wondering what your $25 will provide to this community? Check out these details:

By starting by constructing the admin building, the Maubane community of 400 will have access to:

A base of operations – for the 20-30 volunteers who serve the weekly church meetings that currently take place under an open air shelter that was donated by a local church in Pretoria. What started as 15 kids has now grown to 250-300 children and 100 adults every Sunday for the last three years.

Hygienic Food Preparation – every second Sunday the volunteer group, Take Action, provides food and drinks to the community. But no running water, no kitchen, no bathrooms make it challenging to serve such a large group of people.

Sanitation – this portion of the community center will include male and female restrooms (5 stalls each).

Facilities for the caretaker – who will farm the vegetable garden and provide security and maintenance for the community center site.

Conference Room – for launching economic empowerment with training classes in job skills, early childhood development and HIV/AIDS training for the community.

Safe storage for all the tables, chairs and equipment that serves the church and is currently stored in Pastor Norman’s house.

So are you with me?

ONLY 308 PEOPLE GIVING $25 EACH = $7,700

Remember, you’re not “just a mom” and your actions, whether you perceive them as “big” or “small,” make an incredible impact on the world.

This post is part of Five Minute Friday. Today’s writing prompt was “Tell”. How can you use your words and actions today to tell the story of Jesus’ generosity in our lives?