Charitable Christmas Gifts
Christmas is a beautiful time to shower blessings in a generous way. Each holiday season, individuals and families gather around their computers to give for life-changing and tangible gifts offered by charitable organizations for those in need. These Charitable Christmas gifts may be impossible to wrap, but they could be the most important gifts you give this holiday season.
At GFA World, we have been giving charitable gifts, Christmas and at other times of the year to needy families in Asia for decades, and more recently, we’ve added begun ministry in Africa as well. We’ve seen firsthand the radical life-change that happens when a family receives a gift like a cow, a pair of chickens or a blanket. The gifts are distributed by local GFA World pastors and missionaries, who are familiar with the needs of their community and distribute the gifts to those who need them most.
Some examples of GFA World’s charitable Christmas gifts are:
Livestock and Barnyard animals – Goats, chickens and pigs can bring a family into a sustainable financial situation. Chicken eggs can be eaten or sold. Goat’s milk is nutritious and can also be sold for profit. Piglets fetch a good price at market.
Blankets and Clothing – Homes in impoverished communities in Asia and Africa have little to no insulation, so blankets and winter clothing are essential. Depending on the region, gifts may include a blanket, sweater, jacket and other warm items.
Toilets and Community-wide Gifts – Helping a group of neighbors may be as easy as installing an outdoor toilet. Having a private facility to use protects a neighborhood from communal waste grounds, keeping their water safe; it also preserves their dignity.
Clean Water – Water is essential for life, yet so many go without clean water. GFA World provides BioSand filters that remove impurities and contamination from drinking water for a group of neighbors. Jesus Wells are community-wide wells that provide living water as a ministry of a local church or GFA national missionary.
Vocational Training and Supplies – This life-changing training may be in literacy or in a specific vocation. For example, a woman may receive training in sewing or tailoring and then receive a sewing machine, enabling her to start a tailoring business to provide for her family.
Each of these charitable Christmas gifts help families and communities by giving them critical tools to overcome the cycle of poverty.
Widows struggle to survive in many parts of the world. Janya and Kashvi are two widows who work very hard but have little to show for their efforts. Like many places in Asia, the village where Janya and Kashvi[1] live did not care to help them. With the death of their husbands, they lost the respect of their fellow villagers, who turned their backs on them, and they struggled to provide for themselves and their children.
But God saw them! A GFA church in their community took note of their plight—they saw that the wages these widows were earning from backbreaking manual labor was not meeting their needs. The pastor of the fellowship, Punit, and his congregation stepped in to help. The church knew their care and compassion went against cultural norms, but they came up with the idea to add to the families of these two women.
How would adding more help the situation? The two new family members were goats! Punit gifted each widow a male and a female goat. The ladies were ecstatic and began meticulously tending to their new additions. “These ladies take such good care of their goats,” a GFA World correspondent said. “It’s obvious that they don’t treat them like goats, they treat them like family members!”
Goats are cheaper to care for than other, larger farm animals, so they did not drain resources from the family. What difference does a pair of goats make in the life of someone living in poverty? The goats’ milk provides nutrition for family members, and the owners sell the excess milk for income. When the goats breed, the farm grows, and the offspring can be sold, or they can be gifted to other families so they can start their own farm as well. Farm animals provide another income source for families in need.
Someone across the world made it possible for Janya and Kashvi to receive their new furry family members. A generous person or family selected these goats as charitable gifts for Christmas to give to a family they will never meet.
Consider joining us this Christmas season to give transformative help to a family in need. Charitable gifts to give for Christmas are available at various price points, so everyone can find a gift within their budget. For just $11, you can gift a pair of chickens to a family in Africa or Asia. A $65 gift provides a pair of pigs! You can provide everything from winter clothing, blankets, mosquito nets, bicycles, water filters, literacy classes, vocational training and more. Each gift is hand delivered by a GFA national missionary who knows the community and culture. You can be assured that your gift will go to someone who needs a life-changing gift.
View our GFA World Christmas Gift Catalog!
Learn more about charitable Christmas gifts[1] Christmas Critter Campaign. GFA World. Accessed October 25, 2024. https://www.gfa.org/giving/christmas/not-just-goats.