Through Seva, people can give someone their sight back, help build a well in a remote area or buy bison meat for a family in need

November 26, 1999
Web posted at: 10:51 p.m. EST (0351 GMT)

In this story: Heifer Project goes online 'Shopping against shopping' RELATED STORIES, SITES

From Correspondent Don Knapp

BERKELEY, California (CNN) -- If a madcap rush through overcrowded stores is not your idea of how to celebrate the season, there is an alternative way to get into the holiday spirit of giving.

A phone call and credit card can purchase bison, water wells, Mayan midwife training and even eye surgery from the Seva catalog.

"Thirty dollars -- less than the price of dinner -- will give somebody their sight back," said Seva Foundation Executive Director James O'Dea.

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Correspondent Don Knapp looks at 'service gifts' as a replacement for material holiday presents Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K

Seva, a nonprofit foundation, and other charitable organizations have learned how to market their annual pleas for funds by packaging them as holiday gifts.

Seva works in countries around the world. While the original goal of the founders in 1978 was to prevent blindness by training third world physicians to do cataract surgery, the charity has branched out to help families overcome other diseases and poverty.

"For $50, you can buy bison meat for a whole family," said O'Dea. "There's clean water, there are gifts that help in production of organic agriculture."

Heifer Project goes online

Thirty percent of the budget for the international relief organization Oxfam comes from holiday gift giving

You could give a gift of a heifer, or a llama, trees, bees or a pig to a family by going to the Web site of the Heifer Project, where cash buys farm animals for needy families anywhere in the world.

The international relief organization Oxfam relies on holiday gift giving for 30 percent of its annual budget.

All these charities may be getting a boost from those consumers fed up with holiday business as usual.

"We're getting to be a materialistic society," said one man tired of the commercialization of the holiday. "We're just trying to buy things we don't need to impress people we don't like."

'Shopping against shopping'

There won't be any sweaters, robes or slippers from Amy Geiger this year for her family, now that she's discovered Seva's store in Berkeley.

"There I was, at their doorstep. I was shopping in a way, but I was shopping against shopping, I was trying not to be shopping," recalled Geiger. "Then I found this place where I didn't have to shop."

There are no post-holiday exchanges at Seva, but the charity promises its gifts of service will keep on giving.

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