Now that Thanksgiving has passed, we can officially start celebrating Christmas! This time of year, things really gear up for me—there’s always so much decorating to do, holiday shopping and gift giving and some people on my list are really hard to buy for. When it comes to gift giving, I either aim to get a gift my family and friends really, really want or something that has an emotional, thoughtful connection and will carry sentimental value. We all have that one friend that already has everything and doesn’t want for anything and it can be difficult to choose a meaningful gift.

Well, I found a gift option this year that gives you an array of meaningful gift choices and it has a multiplier effect! We’ve all heard of World Vision, but many don’t really know all that the organization does. World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender. Several years ago, I was privileged with the opportunity to partner with World Vision and sponsor a child. It was a time in my life where I was very busy and didn’t have a lot to share, but I wanted to help someone and make a difference. World Vision does a lot of good for underprivileged children (and families) and they make it really easy for donors to be a part of the process.

World Vision has a Gift Catalog offering hundreds of gifts for those families and communities in all different areas of need: clean water, food, education, sexual exploitation, job training and others. You can choose to gift food items to needy communities like 8 chickens (because they are easy to breed, your gift will grow and multiply providing eggs to create income, be shared with neighbors and ultimately make a better life for a whole village), a pair of goats (goat milk provides protein helping the children grow and the family can sell any extra to earn money to buy medicines and other basic necessities) and plenty of other farm animals. You can even gift a hand-drilled well or clean water for a family, stock a school with books and supplies, gift Bibles in a child’s own language and bless a child with an education. Check out all of the gifting options here at visit worldvisiongifts.org.

How the World Vision Gift Catalog can help with YOUR holiday shopping

Back to that friend who’s hard to buy for… when you donate to World Vision’s “Where Most Needed” fund, donors can choose from different free, handcrafted gifts to receive as a meaningful memento of their donation. All of the items to choose from are beautifully crafted and have a meaningful story behind their creation. Consider donating to the “Where Most Needed” fund and choose one of the handcrafted gifts for your recipient… knowing that their gift also helped provide for a family or community in need is the ultimate meaningful gift and they’ll have a physical memento to keep forever!

I had the opportunity to view several items including the Charm Necklace ($100 | made by a gold and silver plating specialist in India), the Infinity Scarf ($75 | made by artisans in India who are trained in the loom industry to attain skills and a sustainable livelihood… and bonus is that it crafted with my favorite colors!), the Wraparound Ring ($55 | one of my favorite items… this ring is really pretty, and adjustable and fitted with aqua and blue chalcedony stones set in metal, made by female artisans in India), the African Soapstone Box ($85 | made by talented artists with etched designs and hand dyed finishes that showcase modern African creativity and provide a sustainable way out of poverty), the Vietnamese Tote ($100 | created and beautifully hand-embroidered by disabled Vietnamese women), and my VERY favorite, the The Heaton Hope Bracelet ($100 | Patricia Heaton has partnered with World Vision to design this beautiful bracelet. The name was purposely chosen to encourage people to feel hopeful about our world and to give hope, through generosity, to those in need).

That bracelet is gorgeous! Other handcrafted gifts are available and can be viewed online at worldvisiongifts.org. Be sure to order by December 14^th for guaranteed Christmas delivery (and shipping is free!).

A Giveaway!

To help spread the word about their holiday gift options this year, World Vision has offered to give one of our readers a gift basket full of some of the gift catalog items like above (valued at over $500)! Entry is easy, just follow the steps below.

This giveaway has ended. Congratulations to our winner, Tee A.!

To learn more about World Vision, visit worldvision.org.

The Fine Print: No purchase necessary to enter. The giveaway is open to US residents only, 18 years and older. Winner will have 5 days to provide their address before another winner is chosen. In compliance with FTC guidelines, the winning product is complimentary and provided and shipped directly by World Vision. Her Plate received complimentary samples for this post.