CHASING DOWN THE MUSE: The gift of giving to others

‘Tis the season. Comes around every year, and every year I have the same gut reaction to the idea of gift giving for the sake of gift giving. I’m not bah-humbug. Honest. I love colored lights brightening homes on the hillsides, and the camaraderie of hot spiced cider and conversations on cold evenings. But I can’t for the life of me figure out why we buy one another so much stuff that we don’t need because we are “supposed to.”

I have an alternate idea, one that I’ve been cultivating for several years. Instead of exchanging senseless stuff, give in the name of your loved one, business colleague or friend, to your favorite charity.

This doesn’t promote shopping at home, nor does it rescue our own strapped businesses, but it does — to me — seem closer to what the spirit of giving actually means. And this year, unlike those past, charities are more strapped than ever, because just like us, their investment income has dwindled to a trickle — if in fact, any.

Don’t have a favorite charity? I can suggest some. Closest to home, but not in any particular order, the Boys & Girls Club ( www.bgclaguna.org), the Assistance League of Laguna Beach (lagunabeach.assistanceleague.org), the Community Referral Services of CSP ( www.cspinc.org), Meals on Wheels (mealsonwheelswest.org), Sally’s Fund ((949) 499-4100), Rescuing Unwanted Furry Friends – RUFF (ruffrescue.org), SchoolPower ( www.lbschoolpower.org), the Laguna Ocean Foundation ( www.lagunaoceanfoundation.org), the American Cancer Foundation ( www.cancer.org ), the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation ( www.komen.org), the American Heart Assn. ( www.americanheart.org) — for a short list.

Farther afield, and if you need more ideas of the countless ways to donate, Charity Navigator ( www.charitynavigator.org) provides the most extensive list and evaluates how each organization actually spends their funds.

My personal favorite, and one that I continue to support, is the Heifer Foundation ( www.heifer.org). Heifer is a worldwide organization whose mission is “Ending Hunger, Caring for the Earth.” Rather than dole out resources, Heifer works on a platform of creating sustainability and self-reliance.

Their guiding principals are formed in an acronym “Passing on the Gifts,” which encompasses both a “pay it forward” mind-set, as well as a grass roots organization which gives communities a say in developing strategies to further their own success.

They have expanded their gift giving options to include funding specific missions — all of which are detailed on their website, but the simplest way to be involved is to gift a training and an animal to a distant family. Animals include a diversity that ranges from honeybees ($30) to a water buffalo ($250). In between there are pigs, flocks of ducks, geese, chicks, trios of rabbits, baskets of hope. Trees have been included ($60). The list is long, the opportunities copious.

The program stipulates when the recipients of the animals have offspring, they have agreed to gift the offspring to another family, i.e., furthering the gift and the sustainability of the community. Along with the animal gift are instructions on how to care and maintain their health and welfare.

The program makes great sense to me — helping those to help themselves — and further enhance the lives those around them.

Isn’t that really what the spirit of Christmas is really all about?

CATHARINE COOPER loves wild places — and likes to gift ducks and geese. She can be reached at cooper@catharinecooper.com