Even though the festive season is becoming increasingly commercial, thereare still ways to put your gift budget to good use. Patrick Butler reports on what Irish charities have to offer.
Christmas is for giving. Unfortunately, this usually means giving your money to big multinationals out purely to make a profit, more often than not at the expense of local enterprises, human rights or the environment. But it doesn't have to be that way.
"I really do believe that if you give an Irish person a good reason for doing something that makes the difference, they will do it - and do it with a heart and a half," says Barbara McCarthy, who runs Oxfam Ireland's Fair Trade shop on South King Street in Dublin. This Christmas, that means using your spending power intelligently by supporting worthwhile enterprises at home and abroad. And there are lots of ways to do it.
The most obvious is to visit a charity shop. Oxfam Ireland's Fair Trade stores - in Dublin, Galway and Belfast - help communities around the world by cutting out the middleman. That way, more of the money you spend goes to the people who need it most: the makers of the crafts, coffee, chocolate, biscuits and other products the shops sell. They have everything from jewellery boxes, which sell for about €16, to separation screens, which go for €400. All profits from Oxfam goods fund projects in developing countries.
Oxfam also sells plenty of seasonal fare: Christmas cards, decorations, cakes, puddings, wrapping paper and crackers filled with fairly traded goods. "For under €20 you can do really well in a Fair Trade Shop," says McCarthy.
Another organisation that promotes fair trading is Amnesty International, which has shops in Dublin and Galway. It stocks Christmas cards and decorations, games, books, food, stationery, CDs, T-shirts and even Fair Trade leather footballs from Pakistan. All profits fund the organisation's human-rights work around the world. It also sells the goods on its website, www.amnesty.ie, if you can't get to a shop.
Many charities devoted to helping the developing world run gift schemes. The idea is that, instead of buying a friend a present, you pay for some seedlings, say, or an irrigation pump, for a Third World family, then let your friend know that you have spent the money on their behalf.
Trócaire, which runs the highest-profile scheme, has raised more than €4 million this way
over the
past three years. When you buy a gift, it sends an acknowledgment card, for you to forward to the person on whose behalf you purchased the gift. Its prices range from €15, which pays for 50 cashew seedlings, to €150, which pays for a pump.
Bóthar, Gorta and Concern are among the charities that run similar schemes, and the range of gifts on offer means that, with a little thought and research, it's possible to tailor a gift to the person who is receiving it. How about donating a solar-powered oven on behalf of an enthusiastic cook?
Last year, Christmas cards raised more than €750,000 for Ireland's leading charities. Amnesty's were among the most profitable per card, with 50 per cent of the price going to the organisation. The Irish Cancer Society benefits even more from its cards, receiving 75 per cent of the proceeds. Oxfam Ireland's were the most popular - it printed three million - but its share of the profits was more typical of charity cards, at 15 per cent.
Cards that raise money for the disabled, the homeless and animals are always popular. If you have a favourite charity, it's worth checking out what it offers before you spend a small fortune on commercial cards.
You might also discover the perfect gift in a charity catalogue - including the perfect quirky gift. Do you know anyone, for example, who would like to receive an acre of bog? Then the Irish Peatland Conservation Council can register it in their name for €720 - or, if that's too much, it will register a sixteenth of an acre for €45.
Christmas is also a good time for special fund-raising drives. Two years ago the Irish Hospice Foundation launched Art:pack, a deck of playing cards designed by Robert Ballagh, Sean Scully, Bono and others. This year the U2 singer teamed up with Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer to produce a book and CD of Peter & The Wolf (€20), again in aid of the foundation. Also this Christmas, the book Midsummer Magic (€29.95) will raise funds for Special Olympics Ireland; Focus Ireland will benefit from Voices And Poetry Of Ireland (€40), a book and triple CD.
And what if you are want to help the environ-ment? Both ENFO, the public environment- information agency, and Friends of the Earth offer plenty of suggestions for an eco-friendly Christmas. Buy cards and decorations made from recycled paper, for example; try to avoid buying battery-operated toys, unless you plan to use rechargeable batteries; and buy bottled rather than canned beer, as bottles are easier to recycle than aluminium cans.
As for Christmas trees, Friends of the Earth admits it has not done enough research to say for sure whether it is better to buy a natural or a synthetic version. There are advantages to either type: synthetic trees can be reused, but real ones are biodegradable and take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Bord Glas, the horticultural development board, recommends natural trees. If nothing else, you will be helping local industry by buying one - more than 90 per cent of Ireland's Christmas trees, which take between seven and 10 years to grow to two metres, are exported. (An excellent Amnesty Christmas present, incidentally, for anyone passionate about ethical consumption is The Good Shopping Guide, which gives detailed and easy-to-follow advice on how to buy items that don't damage the world or the creatures that live in it, including humans.)
One thing that Friends of the Earth has no doubts about, however, is the value of hemp. "Hemp could save the planet," says Joe Glynn of the organisation. The Hemp Store on Capel Street in Dublin, the only shop of its kind in Ireland, offers an extensive range of hemp goods, including drinks, light shades, chewing gum and stationery. Its clothes and bags could be good bets as presents. You could also buy a packet of hemp Christmas cards.
Still on the subject of organic produce, it may take a little extra effort, and prove slightly more expensive, but it's possible to have an
entirely organic Christmas dinner. Cait Curran, editor of Organic Matters magazine, says the best place to buy organically grown produce is a market, not a supermarket. Not only are you buying meat, fruit and vegetables that taste better than commercially grown alternatives - because they are free of pesticides and herbicides - but also you are helping to support local producers. It's quite difficult to get Irish organic products in supermarkets, which tend to deal with imported produce, according to Curran, who runs an organic stall at Galway's Saturday market. To find your local market, log on to www.irelandmarkets.com.
If you live in Dublin it's worth getting to know the stallholders who sell their goods in Temple Bar on Saturdays. The Meeting House Square market is one place you can stock up on organic food for Christmas. You're also only a stone's throw from the Cow's Lane market (for arts and crafts), the Cultivate sustainable-living centre (which can make up Christmas hampers containing eco-friendly goodies), The Hemp Store and Fair Trade shops such as Amnesty International's Freedom Cafe.
If you just can't avoid a consumer- driven Christmas, many charities, such as the Society of St Vincent de Paul and the Simon Community, still depend on the tried and trusted form of the donation. Appease your guilt and give generously.
Sponsorship is another option. Feeling particularly active, hung over or just plain guilty on Christmas Day? Then take part in the annual Goal run, at locations around the country. Turn up and donate money or organise your own sponsorship before-hand. It's an event that can provide some much-needed respite from Christmas consumption. "It gives you a chance to think, because you're on your own, about what Christmas is about. It's more than just a fund-raiser," says Andrew Spearman of Goal.
Finally, once Christmas has passed, that doesn't mean you can't make good use of what's left behind. Don't forget Bring Centres, for your recyclables. And if you have received things you don't like or are tired of already, why not give them to a charity shop?
Gifts to the developing world
Bóthar www.bothar.ie, 1800-268463
Concern www.concern.ie, 01-4754162
Gorta www.gorta.ie, 01-6615522
Trócaire www.trocaire.ie, 01-6293333
Environment/sustainability information and gifts
ENFO www.enfo.ie, 1890-200191
Friends of the Earth www.iol.ie/~foeeire/home.htm, 01-4785100
Cultivate www.sustainable.ie, 01-6746415
Irish Peatland Conservation Council www.ipcc.ie, 01-8722397
Hemp products and clothing
The Hemp Store 167 Capel Street, Dublin 1
Organic produce, gifts and information
Plan Organic www.planorganic.com
Ireland Markets www.irelandmarkets.com, 046-9730149
The Organic Gardening Catalogue www.organiccatalog.com
Bord Bia www.bordbia.ie
Organic Matters Magazine www.organicmatters mag.com, 091-844973
Fair Trade shops
Oxfam Ireland South King Street, Dublin 2, 01-6710308; Rathmines Road, Dublin 6, 01-4964181; Lower Abbeygate Street, Galway, 091-561491; Rosemary Street, Belfast, 048-90247168
Amnesty International Fleet Street, Dublin 2; Middle Street, Galway; you can also buy online at www.amnesty.ie
Christmas Day Goal Mile
Dublin Belfield, Lucan, Raheny, Santry
Carlow Laurence O'Toole Athletics Club
Cork Cork Institute of Technology
Galway Dangan sports ground, NUI Galway
Kerry Castleisland Athletics Club
Limerick University of Limerick athletics track
Longford Connolly Barracks
Offaly Tullamore Harriers
Westmeath Mullingar Harriers
Runs begin between 10 a.m. and 11.30 a.m. and finish between noon and 1 p.m. For more information, call 01-2809779
Recycling facilities
ENFO www.enfo.ie, 1890-200191
