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Sweet charity
The spirit of giving, revived
BY KATE COHEN

It seems like the leaves have just barely started to fall, and already we’re being bombarded with the message to GIVE. The Gap tells us to "give color" and "give stripes"; Macy’s says we should do nothing less than "give them the stars." The actual act of giving has somehow been warped by all the hubbub; however rewarding it is to spend our hard-earned cash on gifts for our friends and loved ones, yielding to the commercialism of the holidays every year can leave us in danger of feeling a little empty. Not to mention the scores of well-intentioned gifts that fall into that ill-fated pile of things given away, returned, or (gasp!) re-gifted as soon as the party is over. This year, spare your recipients the agony of feigning excitement over a monogrammed turtleneck and give something that’s good for their consciences — and yours.

A membership to WGBH, for instance, sends much-needed funds to public-television programming, and it entitles the holder to a host of discounts and special benefits. In addition to receiving savings around town at places like the Museum of Fine Arts, Brookline Booksmith, and the Wang Center, members are kept in the loop about ’GBH events in the area and learning tours abroad. Plus, members get a discount at the online store, so that uncle who’s an Antiques Roadshow fan can get his videos at 15 percent off. The station also currently offers a deal in which a new membership purchased online (main.wgbh.org/wgbh/shop/) qualifies you for an immediate 25 percent discount in the online shop — so you can score a membership as a gift and also snatch up some ’GBH paraphernalia for even more gifting for a good cause. For further information, call (617) 300-5400.

For the musician or music lover on your list, give the unique gift of a donation in his or her name to Little Kids Rock. This San Francisco–based organization was founded by Dave Wish, an elementary-school teacher who was frustrated with the lack of adequate music education at his school. LKR arranges for the donation of instruments to schools, and for volunteers to teach children how to play them. The after-school program has caught the attention of Bonnie Raitt and B.B. King, who are honorary board members, and the Grateful Dead’s Rex Foundation recently awarded Little Kids Rock a $5000 grant. The program has already been successful in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Memphis, and New York, and it's now set its sights on Boston. It’s planning to work with First Act, an instrument manufacturer in Needham, to distribute instruments to schools in the area. A donation comes with a letter of thanks and a copy of the organization’s latest CD, Little Kids Rock Coast-to-Coast, which includes songs written by students. Log on to www.littlekidsrock.org or call (510) 528-3673 or (973) 746-8248 for more information.

Theater tickets are always a popular item around the holidays, but it’s tricky scoring them for a night your friends are sure to be free without letting the cat out of the bag. Avoid the hassle by giving Arts/Boston gift certificates instead. Available online (www.artsboston.org) or by calling the Arts/Boston Holiday Hotline (617-262-8632, ext. 221), they can be used for any tickets sold at BosTix, the discount ticket booths in Copley Square and Faneuil Hall, or through the Arts/Mail discount subscription. The certificates are sold in $10 denominations, and the money goes to Arts/Boston, a nonprofit that supports 165 dance, music, and theater groups in Boston. Like Little Kids Rock, Arts/Boston seeks to fill the void left by a lack of school funding for the arts through a program called Tomorrow’s Audiences, which brings inner-city children to the theater. Plus, its half-price ticket deals are some of the best bargains in the city.

Another option for gift certificates that benefit charity is Boomerangs. This thrift store, run by AIDS Action Committee, is on par with any in the city for new and "pre-loved" clothing, accessories, housewares, books, and home furnishings. The money goes to AIDS research; AIDS Action clients are also given vouchers to shop in the store twice a year. Shopping at Boomerangs completes the charitable cycle, as the clothes and other items sold at the store are themselves donations, many of which are collected through a partnership with Dependable Cleaners throughout the Greater Boston area. Gift certificates are available in any denomination. Boomerangs is located at 716 Centre Street, in Jamaica Plain. Call (617) 524-5120.

For the foodie with a desire to do good that’s as big as his appetite, spring for tickets to Taste of the Nation. One hundred percent of ticket sales from this benefit go to Share Our Strength, a nonprofit dedicated to ending poverty and hunger both in the US and abroad. The Boston event, in which 85 area restaurants and 40 wineries donate their goods for a night of elite all-you-can-eat tasting, will be held on May 3, 2003. Last year’s participating restaurants included Ambrosia on Huntington, Hamersley’s Bistro, Chez Henri, Brasserie Jo, and the East Coast Grill. Among the local charities that benefit from this evening of culinary decadence are Food for Free, which collects food for free distribution in Cambridge and Somerville; Operation Frontline, which offers classes on nutrition and cooking; and the Greater Boston Food Bank, New England’s largest food pantry. Tickets are $75 to $100 and are available at 10 area Bread & Circus stores. E-mail taste_of_nation_boston@yahoo.com for more information.

It might not sound entirely classy to be known as the crazy who gave everyone a goat for the holidays, but it certainly would be memorable. Heifer International arranges for the delivery of livestock to poverty-stricken families all over the world. The byproducts of the donated animal, like cow’s milk or chicken eggs, serve to sustain the family and provide them with a source of income. As part of their agreement with Heifer, the family will also pass offspring from the animal on to other families in their village, spreading the opportunity for self-reliance and encouraging peace and cooperation between neighbors. Heifer’s gift order list is impressive, ranging from a share of a donation of an animal, like a llama, pig, or trio of rabbits ($10), all the way to an ark ($5000), which is literally a whole menagerie of animals, two by two. A donation sent as a gift will come with a fold-out greeting card that explains Heifer’s mission. For more information, log on to www.heifer.org, or call (800) 696-1918.

Caffeine junkies will be happy to get their hands on a Peet’s Global Education Partnership Single Origin Coffee Sampler. Available exclusively at www.peets.com for $19.50, this trio of half-pound bags sends a portion of the proceeds to the Global Education Partnership (GEP). This nonprofit supports youth-development programs in Kenya, Tanzania, Guatemala, Indonesia, and San Francisco. Fittingly, the coffee comes from three of these regions. With an emphasis on self-reliance in the global marketplace, GEP arranges for educational resources like textbooks and computer training, and also provides small-business start-up grants in low-income communities. GEP stresses that the people it assists define and achieve success on their own terms, and that it supports local initiatives rather than merely distributing handouts. Peet’s will also be holding a Holiday Tips Donation on December 24: on that day, the coffee and tea will be free, and employees will donate their tips to a local nonprofit of their choice. The company will match the employees’ amount in tips, up to $1000. You can find Peet’s at 175 Federal Street, in Boston; 100 Mt. Auburn Street, in Cambridge; and 285 Harvard Street, in Brookline.

One of the most popular charitable gifts is the donation of a piece of a protected area in a friend’s name. You can buy a part of practically anything these days; an Internet search turns up organizations big and small asking for money, and it’s hard to sort out the scams from the real deals. The Nature Conservancy remains an old stand-by. Its Adopt an Acre program is currently raising money to adopt 8000 acres in Chile’s Valdivian Temperate Forest. One acre costs $75 and comes with an honorary certificate detailing the acre’s location. The money may also go toward hiring park rangers, educating people living in the rain-forest area on enviromental matters, and developing environmentally sound uses for the land. The Nature Conservancy also operates the similar Rescue the Reef program, which is currently raising funds for Indonesia’s Komodo National Park. Home to a diverse array of coral, fish, and animals, this park has been threatened by blast fishing and pollution. As with Adopt an Acre, a $75 donation buys a certificate noting a location within the Reef; money may also go toward maintenance expenses. For more information, call (800) 628-6860, check out www.nature.org, or write to the Nature Conservancy, Attn: Treasury (Web/Support), 4245 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 100, Arlington, VA 22203.

Many of the same retailers urging us to GIVE are also starting to tell us that we’re running out of time. Fortunately, most of these and many other charitable gifts are relatively easy to order, and they have a big payoff, both for the groups they’re benefiting and for your own spirit of giving. Why not give something a little different this year? Your cousin in the monogrammed turtleneck will no doubt appreciate it.

Kate Cohen can be reached at kcohen[a]phx.com

Issue Date: December 12 - 19, 2002
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