Real Gifts Bring Benefits Long After Christmas

Christmas shoppers are being encouraged to be ‘compassionate consumers’ this Christmas and buy SCIAF Real Gifts for friends and family to help alleviate hunger and poverty around the world.

The new Real Gift of turkeys this year is one of a wide range of presents featured in SCIAF’s new Christmas Real Gifts catalogue which also includes a Real Gift of pigs, chickens, tree planting, an acre of mangoes, a gift for Sudan, water for a village, care for animals, as well as support to pay for local nurses and teachers. The money spent on SCIAF’s Real Gifts goes directly to projects and helps people in developing countries work their own way out of poverty.

“Most people associate turkeys with Christmas dinner but they can be vital in helping poor families all year round to improve their diet and generate much needed income,” says SCIAF’s Fundraising Officer Emma O’Shea.

Hunger and malnutrition claim the lives of thousands of people every year including children who are unable to grow and develop properly without a proper diet. As well as providing a large amount of meat which is rich in nutrients and protein, turkeys are cheap to raise and can be bred and sold to help poor families generate an income to cover their basic needs such as food, clothing and medicines.

Shoppers buying a SCIAF Real Gift receive a beautiful card to pass onto their friend or family member.

In El Salvador, SCIAF is helping 365 families to rebuild their lives after a succession of natural disasters. One of its priorities is restocking smallholdings with livestock such as turkeys. Those buying a Real Gift of turkeys this year can help SCIAF continue its work in this and other related projects around the world.

Emma O’Shea continues:

“When you buy a Real Gift you not only solve the endless problem of what to buy for your friends or family in the run up to Christmas, you also help someone living in poverty to benefit long after the festive season is over.”

“Real Gifts are based on the principle that here in Scotland we can sometimes waste our money buying gifts people don’t really need. This Christmas why not buy a gift that will improve the life of someone living in poverty? SCIAF’s Real Gifts are ethical gifts that have raised over £1 million and have provided practical help to poor communities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.”

In addition to SCIAF’s Real Gifts the public is also able to make a donation in someone’s name and receive a gift card in return.

To receive this year’s SCIAF Real Gift catalogue call 0141 354 5555 or order your gifts online at www.sciaf.org.uk/realgifts.

November 2007