Alternative Giving Market

Welcome to the Alternative Giving Market. For years AGM has provided an opportunity to remember friends, family, and co-workers by making gifts in their honor to non-profit, charitable agencies such as these. Although our annual event was held in Reynolds Hall Sunday, November 21, there's still time to make a donation as a gift to support these worthy organizations:

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Organizations:

The Abundant Harvest

The Abundant Harvest creates experiences around the table that feed the body, nourish the soul, and transform the community. Each month over 1,400 families receive over 100,000 pounds of groceries from our food pantries. We serve over 900 free meals each month to the community which not only gives them food, but also companionship and belonging.

Your donations make a difference.

• $5 provides lunch for someone at our cafe.
• $50 gives a week worth of groceries to a family of four.
• $100 covers the transportation costs to pick up donations from local grocery stores
• $250 covers the costs to feed 100 seniors at a restricted-income apartment complex.

At Risk Youth

At Risk Youth provides immediate financial assistance, benefitting working poor families with children enrolled in public schools, who have experienced an
unexpected crisis that imperils their financial stability. For 21 years At Risk Youth
volunteers have engaged in this effort, directing every dollar contributed to the
benefit of the recipient. There is no overhead. Any amount provides relief to a family in danger of being evicted or having their utilities disconnected.

• $100 Resupply household furnishings destroyed by frozen pipes or fire.
• $300 Partial payment of automobile accident repairs so employment is uninterrupted
• $500 50% of 1 month’s rent to avoid eviction

The Beacon

The Beacon's mission is to provide essential and next-step services to restore hope and help end homelessness in Houston. These services include hot meals, access to showers, laundry service, mailbox privileges, pastoral care, pro bono legal services, counselling, and mentoring, along with case management, housing assessment, and navigation. All of these services have continued with varied modifications amid the coronavirus pandemic. We are grateful for those that continue to support our efforts. Examples of what gift amounts can help provide:

• $1 A hot meal for a client
• $35 Mailbox privileges for one client for a year
• $50 Scrubs and toiletries for one client
• $200 An apartment starter kit
• $500 A day's worth of meals for 500 clients

Brigid’s Place

Brigid's Place welcomes women who want to experience real transformation and genuine community. Personal growth requires vulnerability, humility, openness to others, and most of all, a sense of humor! Its mission is to provide engaging, eye-opening, soul nourishing moments with the self, others, and the Divine that will break open hearts and take people to a new level of life.

• $25 Martha Frances memorial fund in support of Brigid’s Place community events and celebrations
• $50 In support of Anam Cara friendship circles
• $100 Betty Adam scholarship fund in support of Brigid's Place programs
• $300 Toward production expenses for Easter in Memory of Her
• $500 Toward the musical performance for Easter in Memory of Her

Cathedral Missions

Cathedral Missions organizes all mission trips for individuals at Christ Church Cathedral. Rising 6th grade students through adults can participate. Past mission trips have helped in places such as Baton Rouge, Rockport, Costa Rica, and Houston. Examples of what gift amounts can help provide:

• $1 Public transportation for a mission participant
• $25 Food for a day
• $50 Lodging for a day
• $100 One-fifth of the cost for air travel
• $1900 Full scholarship for a high school mission participant

Centro Paula Escaño (CPE)

Centro Paula Escaño (CPE) is located on the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti. It trains socio-cultural leaders and coordinators to improve the relationship between Haitians and Dominicans. CPE is involved in projects such as training young leaders, teachers and pastoral agents in both Haiti and the DR. Since the earthquake in 2010, CPE has focused on emergency aid and emotional recovery workshops with teachers who then spread these techniques of recovery to their families, students, and neighbors in the camps. CPE also assists pregnant women coming to the DR from Haiti because the hospital conditions are better on the Dominican side of the border.

• $10 Training materials for new leaders
• $25 Emotional recovery workshop
• $250 Aid to an expectant mother

Combined Arms

Combined Arms (CAX) is a disruptive backbone organization on a mission to accelerate the impact of veterans and military families, while fundamentally redesigning the military transition process through innovation and collaboration. We streamline the connection between veterans and military-connected individuals and the organizations that serve them, helping our clients not only find needed resources but also connect directly with service-providers faster to get the support they need to thrive after serving our nation. Since 2015, we’ve served 50k individuals across the state of Texas, connecting them to our growing network of 177 member organizations that provide 700+ social services resources.

• $25 One year of service portal access for a veteran
• $100 One year of service portal access for a veteran-serving organization
• $500 One month's access to conference rooms for member organizations
• $1,000 One month's rent for veteran-serving organizations

CUSE

CUSE delivers lasting urban service experiences by bringing together populations in need. Our location at Christ Church Cathedral in the center of downtown Houston provides the perfect home base for groups of youth and adults wishing to experience the unique challenges and blessings of inner-city service. We have been serving in Houston for over thirteen years.

• $1 Sponsor a bus pass
• $5 Sponsor a set of gloves or safety goggles (Used in urban farming and work sites)
• $20 Sponsor a service project (Materials for a project)
• $100 Sponsor a community outreach event (Dinner with our serving sites)
• $5000 Sponsor an Intern

Education Across Borders

Education Across Borders is a non-profit organization working in Haiti and the Dominican Republic whose mission is to transform communities through relationship. The island of Hispaniola, originally colonized by Spain and France, still bears the scars of colonialism and exploitation. In Haiti, 70% of the populace lives in extreme poverty, 72% lack basic sanitation, and 50% lack clean water. In the DR, where Haitians increasingly seek a better life, the reality is still grim. Your gift will support:

• $10 School supplies for 1 student
• $50 Medical supplies for clinic
• $600 1 year scholarship for a middle school student

Emergency Aid Coalition

The Emergency Aid Coalition (EAC) is an interfaith organization that collaborates to provide temporary assistance in the form of food, clothing, and other basic needs, with an emphasis on serving the working poor.

• $1 Apples for three children
• $10 Clothing for one homeless client
• $50 Groceries for a family of four
• $100 Boots to Work for one working client
• $300 Jeans, socks, underwear, and hygiene products for 30 clients

1,000 Days of Love — Episcopal Relief & Development

The first 1,000 days for children are critical in setting a foundation that affects their ability to grow, learn and thrive over their entire lives. Episcopal Relief & Development works with communities to ensure that children have access to food, clean water, and quality health care. One Thousand Days of Love is a $3 million grassroots Church-wide fundraising campaign dedicated to expanding ERD’s global programs improving the lives of children up to age six.

• $1 gift to help nurture and nourish the earliest learners
• $35 for medicine and nutrition for a mother and her newborn
• $70 to educate a child affected by AIDS
• $95 to purchase a bicycle
• $300 to help 25 families with mosquito nets
• $1,000 for the ONE THOUSAND DAYS OF LOVE package to empower communities to help children up to age six thrive and achieve their full potential.

Have Shears Will Travel

Have Shears Will Travel serves hundreds of homeless, displaced families, hospice, veterans, and special needs adults throughout greater Houston each month with free haircuts. Most of its service is provided in a 32' RV converted into a mobile hair salon. Hospice and hospital patients are served in the comfort of their residences. Examples of what gift amounts can help provide:

• $5 comb or brush
• $50 2 hair dryers
• $150 one tank of fuel
• $500 hospice haircuts
• $1000 100 children haircuts

Kids Hope

Kids Hope is an outreach and community service program of Christ Church Cathedral. An all-volunteer cohort provides one-on-one mentoring, reading and academic support to individual at-risk public-school students who are referred to Kids Hope by teachers, counselors and parents. Kids Hope volunteers work closely with partner schools to provide needed school supplies, uniforms, books, program supplies and volunteers. Recent pandemic and weather crises have put significant strains on Kids Hope families and Kids Hope has responded by providing additional support and assistance to individual families in need. More info.

• $2 Super Hero Aluminum Pencil Storage Box for an elementary school student
• $10 materials kit for one student to participate in a Kids Hope Holiday Craft or Lego Imagination Build event
• $50 Set of books for a reading mentor and 3 students to read together virtually
• $500 New laptop/tablet and software for 2 students lacking online access
• $1000 Musical instruments for a dozen students to use for at-home practice

Living Hope Wheelchair Association

Living Hope Wheelchair Association provides survival services for people with spinal cord injuries and other disabilities, many of whom lack benefits, insurance, or stable income. The association provides medical supplies, equipment, and transportation support for members, and open spaces for them to be part of the community. It also helps people with disabilities in times of disaster, during Covid19 pandemic Living Hope is supporting more than 200 households with emergency financial assistance, referral for services and spiritual and emotional accompaniment against isolation. Gift amounts can help provide:

• $1.25 One catheter
• $25 One package of adult diapers
• $100 One pair of tires for a wheelchair
• $300 Six months of transportation support for one member
• $1,200 One year of cell phone and internet access for one person

Lord of the Streets

Lord of the Streets, a mission church of the Diocese of Texas, is a community that “Welcomes, Restores, and Rebuilds” lives through relationship-focused ministries for the homeless. Lord of the Streets works to restore relationships with God, self, family, the church, and society through acts of service, and to rebuild dignity, health, and productivity of the homeless and recently-housed. Examples of what gift amounts can help provide:

• $10 A 5-pack of underwear or a 6-pack of socks
• $25 Two pairs of jeans
• $50 Twenty-five Directories of Homeless Services
• $100 Ten discipleship or life-skill course workbooks
• $200 Fifty hygiene kits

Seafarers’ Ministry

Seafarer’s Ministry at the Port of Houston celebrates its 50th Anniversary of providing an ecumenical ministry for international seafarers who find themselves a long way from home. Examples of what gift amounts can help provide:

• $1 One pocket New Testament Bible for a seafarer
• $15 Communion supplies for shipboard worship services
• $50 Supplies to make two Christmas gift boxes for seafarers
• $80 Provide one mobile WIFI (internet connection) to a ship for one year
• $125 Provide a supply chaplain (to cover absences) for one day