Celebrate the Holiday Season with Self-Sustaining Gifts

Seattle, December 11, 2009 — Self-sustaining living is becoming more and more popular in the U.S. as families seek to save money and reduce their carbon footprint by growing their own vegetables, raising their own livestock and cooking from scratch. This trend reflects how the majority of people around the world already live. Help improve worldwide sustainability by giving a gift from the 2009 World Vision Gift Catalog. The catalog features more than 100 gifts that truly make a difference for families in need – including gifts that encourage more sustainable living in communities around the world.

A primary World Vision initiative in programs located in rural, farming communities is to invest in long-term agricultural development. This may include providing seeds and tools to assist farmers in their harvest and training community members in new agricultural techniques (crop rotation, drip irrigation, and planting trees to enrich overworked soil). This helps ensure the community’s food sources are sustainable, and it is also one of the best ways to help communities survive the global food crisis and economic recession.

Sonnie Georgette, a 48-year-old farmer living in Lumata, a village in the southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, spoke about the impact these sustainable practices had on her community.

“Before the start-up of World Vision in our area, famine was part of the daily life," Sonnie recalls. "We had to go to buy food 40 kilometers [about 25 miles] away; a very huge number of children were often affected by 'Kwashiorkor' [severe protein malnutrition], and food was very expensive…[but now] our life will no longer be the same.”

In fact, Lumata has become so sustainable that World Vision is scheduled to close operations in the area soon, a remarkable achievement considering the former conditions of this community.

Gifts featured in the World Vision Gift Catalog range in price from $17 - $22,000 and can be purchased in the name of a friend, colleague or loved one. The gift recipient in turn receives a special card describing the gift that was purchased and the impact it will have on the life of a person in need.

This year’s self-sustaining gifts include:
· An alpaca for warm wool and increased income - $360, or $25 per share
· Hybrid or drought-resistant seeds for a farmer - $17
· Clean, safe water for a school - $100 (per share)
· 10 fruit trees to boost health and income - $60
· Goat and two chickens to provide milk and eggs - $100
· A bicycle for a young girl to attend school - $85
· Stock a school in America with essential learning tools and supplies - $100
· Build and stock a fish pond - $200

For more gift ideas please visit www.worldvisiongifts.org. Gift Catalogs, product photos and interviews are available upon request.

Note: Follow World Vision's Gift Catalog team as they travel around the world to find the true meaning of Christmas:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/truespiritofchristmas
Twitter: www.twitter.com/christmastour
Website: www.worldvisiongifts.org