a different holiday season

I've always wanted to do something like this for my loved ones during the holidays. I hate going to malls and big stores looking through the generic gifts for something special and unique and ending up frustrated and settling for something that'll just work.
This year, I've decided to give gifts that fall into one or more of these categories: made by me, handmade by someone else or portions/all of the profit go to a charity.
I've tried to find a good bunch of websites to help me accomplish this goal.

These websites use your money to buy supplies for other people. Each offers gift cards that you can give others so they can choose what they would like to buy/fund for someone else.
Donorschoose.org. This website is simply amazing. Teachers post projects, equipment, books, etc. that they need for their classroom and you can help fund their projects. What a brilliant idea!
Oxfam America Unwrapped. Buying items and supplies for people around the world. This could include school uniforms, hygiene kits, school desks/chairs, livestock, books for kids, etc.
Habitat for Humanity. They tell you what the amount of money you donate will buy: nails, doors, sinks, floors, etc.
Heifer International. You help buy livestock and kits that teach people around the world learn skills to help pull them out of poverty.http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
Kiva.org. Your money helps fund loans for businesses starting out around the world.
Women for Women International. You sponsor a woman in war-torn regions with emotional and financial support, small business or job training, and education.

These websites have lots of wonderful stuff you can buy (most of it's not overpriced, either) and part or all of their profit goes to helping others or to various charities.
Crafters for Critters. Handmade stuff, money goes to "help critters". They have some really cute, handmade stuff, too!
Global Exchange Store. Heavy focus on Free Trade products, but sells items from small crafters from all over the world.
World of Good. Fair trade products, a little more expensive than other websites on this list.
...There are a ton of others, but way out of our budget, so I left 'em off the list.

And, finally, the eBay of handmade goods: Etsy. There is a TON! of stuff on this site. From what I've seen, you can find something for anyone and most of it is a price that we can all agree with. They have gift guides for every person you know and many different ways to help you go through the thousands and thousands of items to find the best and brightest.

If you need any other ideas for a different kind of holiday giving season, try out this website: Buy Nothing Christmas: Alternatives. It's a huuuuge list of things that you can made/put together instead of buying something.

one call to action

I've seen this in a few blogs I read and felt that since today is the biggest retail day of the year, maybe I can convince a few of you, my lovelies, to use your money for some good that doesn't involve giving your money to giant corporations.
I'll have more sites where you can use your money to buy your loved ones positive gifts that help good causes. Remember: this is the season for hope, charity, good will, peace and giving.

In 2004, Jackie Brown Otter founded Pretty Bird Woman House, a women's shelter at the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota. The shelter is named after Brown Otter's sister, who was kidnapped, raped and beaten to death in 2001.

According to Amnesty Intn'l report,

High levels of sexual violence on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation take place in a context of high rates of poverty and crime... The unemployment rate on the Reservation is 71 per cent. Crime rates on the Reservation often exceed those of its surrounding areas. According to FBI figures, in 2005 South Dakota had the fourth highest rate of "forcible rapes" of women of any US state.

As a special bonus to the Lakota Sioux Reservation, there are sufficient desensitization to crime and confusion over Tribal/Non-Tribal jurisdiction at Standing Rock to create rape tourism. Says Andrea Smith, an Assistant Professor of Native Studies at the University of Michigan,

[N]on-Native perpetrators often seek out a reservation place because they know they can inflict violence without much happening to them.

Against these odds, Pretty Bird Woman House is staffed by three people-- a nurse, a volunteer, and a part-time employee-- and from January to October of this year, they managed to:

* answer 397 crisis calls

* give emergency shelter to 188 women and 132 children

* help 23 women obtain restraining orders, 10 get divorces, and 16 get medical assistance

* provide court advocacy support for 28 women

* conduct community education programs for 360 women

A few weeks ago, PBWH's phone lines were cut, the office was ransacked, and the building was burnt down.

Everyone was away from the house at the time, but all possessions were lost, and - because PBWH's grant from the South Dakota Coalition Against Domestic Violence is predicated on its ability to shelter women - its funding is also lost. Now everybody's trying to pick up the pieces.

Click here for the full story.

How you can help:

1.

Donate what you can for a new house.

Pretty Bird Woman House already has two potential replacement houses in mind. Both offer significantly more space than the previous building... full basements, storage room and would house more than double the families and women than their previous building. Both buildings have yards which means possible playgrounds for children.

One house has a major advantage in location - a police station across the street.

Because of difficulties obtaining loans (banks are allergic to both Native Americans and poverty) the best solution lies in purchasing the house outright. The Tribal Council could hold the mortgage but coming up with the mortgage payments every month creates an ongoing problem. Since both houses are on the market, they could be gone anytime. Depressed property values on Standing Rock mean that $60,000 gets the house. An additional $10,000 is required to make them secure, with proper fencing, video cameras, reinforced doors and other measures.

Since 10/25, the drive for donations for PBWH has garnered 17% of the $70,000 goal; the drive ends January 2008-- so consider donating in someone's name as a Christmas present. Donations can be made here.

2.

Donate material goods-- clothing, toiletries, non-perishables, etc.

USPS to:
Pretty Bird Woman House
P.O. Box 596
McLaughlin, SD 57642

or FedEx, UPS, DHL ship to:
Pretty Bird Woman House
302 Sale Barn Rd.
McLaughlin SD 57642

3. Spread this meme.