Last-minute Christmas gifts that will bless others
So you don’t show up empty-handed… and do something good!
Forgotten someone on your Christmas list, missed the shipping cut off dates or just feeling down about the state of the world? Here are a number of perfect last-minute gifts that will do good for others while ensuring you don’t turn up empty-handed to Christmas lunch.
NOTE: You might want to pick the e-card option for many of these gifts to ensure you have something to pass on to a loved one by Christmas Day.
Compassion’s Gifts of Compassion
There are dozens of gifts to choose from here, including gifts all the way up to $12,000. If you’ve got that much money to spend this Christmas, you could open a new Compassion centre, or give clean water to an entire community!
Murray Webb from Compassion Australia’s Ministry Partnerships team says, “Across the world, 356 million children live in poverty. We know that children suffer the greatest impact from poverty but are the least able to change their circumstances.”
“Choosing a ‘Gift of Compassion’ is a way to give a meaningful gift this Christmas while blessing your loved ones and helping release children and families living in poverty.”
Opportunity International’s Gifts of Opportunity
Choose from humorously named gifts like ‘Quack a Smile’ (ducklings for people in poverty to raise and then use their eggs to sell) and ‘Sight for Saw Eyes’ (carpentry tools and supplies to give a person a source of income).
Opportunity says, “This Christmas, give your loved ones gifts that will bless families in poverty recovering from COVID-19. Each of the gifts below represent common items that families living in poverty purchase with Opportunity’s small loans – enabling them to restart businesses, earn regular incomes and rebuild after the devastation of COVID-19.”
Open Doors’ Gifts of Hope
Support persecuted Christians by choosing from gifts like Bibles, youth ministry, and a survival pack for Christians in North Korea.
About the survival pack, Open Doors says, “North Korea has been the most dangerous country to follow Jesus for 20 years. If a Christian is discovered here, their entire family are sent to labour camps, where many lose their lives. Church life is impossible, and famine is sweeping the nation.
By choosing this gift, you can provide food, medicine, and clothing to secret North Korean Christians. Your gift will bring the light of hope to Christians who have experienced life in the darkest of places.”
Anglicare’s Toys ‘n’ Tucker
Toys ‘n’ Tucker is a little different this year, so if you’re in NSW it’s not too late to participate. Amid ongoing concerns surrounding COVID-19, instead of donating actual goods, participants are being asked to ‘shop online’ via the Toys ‘n’ Tucker website for Christmas hampers, treats and gifts, which are then provided to those in need through contactless delivery. Anglicare has been able to source these goods from wholesalers and through partnerships with other organisations such as Foodbank.
Read more about Toys ‘n’ Tucker here.
Baptist World Aid’s Big Hearted Gifts
The Baptist World Aid cards are beautifully designed, and you can bundle gifts to provide more holistic help. We particularly love the ‘Disease Fighter Value Pack’ ($65) which provides clean water, blankets, and hygiene supplies to stop the spread of COVID.
Baptist World Aid says, “The gifts you’ll find here are both an expression of compassion for the poor and support for the work of our Christian partners. But they’re so much more than that… At their heart, these gifts are an expression of God’s extraordinary love at work in the world.”
“The gifts you’ll find here are both an expression of compassion for the poor and support for the work of our Christian partners. But they’re so much more than that… At their heart, these gifts are an expression of God’s extraordinary love at work in the world.” – Baptist World Aid
Wayside Chapel’s Donate a Plate
Wayside Chapel will provide meals to people experiencing homelessness in NSW this Christmas. $25 can sponsor a meal for one person, or you can feed a family of four for $100.
Wayside Chapel says, “Each year, a constant stream of people walk through our doors, in desperate need of food and support. We are determined to spread the Christmas cheer and bring joy to our community.
On Christmas Day this year, we will be hosting a special Wayside Christmas Picnic on the streets of Kings Cross, where our loving community will come together and enjoy the festivities with a delicious Christmas lunch, outside on the grass-covered street.
And over the seven days leading up to Christmas, we will host free community lunches and serve freshly cooked meals – with all the trimmings!
In every way, we are going to show people that they are loved and not forgotten. Because no one should go hungry or be alone at Christmas.”
Tearfund’s Useful Gifts
Tearfund’s Useful Gifts are always popular, and this year they include a few really unique options, including a $50 gift called ‘Women’s Empowerment’.
About this gift, Tearfund says, “Lasting transformation happens when women are supported, connected and empowered. For decades, many of Tearfund’s Christian partners have seen a significant change in families and communities through women’s Self-Help Groups (SHGs).
Through these groups, women’s skills are increased and they are empowered and grow in confidence through social support, income-generation activities, training and education in gender equality.
In India, one partner supports over 20,000 marginalised women through SHGs. In Ethiopia, one group member who is HIV-positive shares, ‘My relatives and friends abandoned me, but the SHG members didn’t. The SHG is my life!’”
Other options you might like to check out include…
Email This Story
Why not send this to a friend?
