The American Foundation for Children with AIDS has a number of gifts perfect for those you love and care about this holiday season. We’ve put together a gift guide that gives back – gifts for teachers, gardeners, animals and earth lovers. give gifts that spark hope that changes the lives of children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. These gifts of kindness will be something that continues to give long into the future. Naming your honoree is easy and we handle the card! You just click to add any of our charitable packages to your cart, and we handle the rest! Don’t forget to name your honoree and include their name and address in the “Additional comments” section when you proceed to checkout. Happy shopping!
Gifts for Teachers
Every year we look to honor teachers for their dedication and hard work, but a lot of us are wondering just what is the best gift for a teacher? While mugs and candles are certainly nice, many teachers are asking for charitable donations in lieu of gifts.
Thank someone for being a great teacher or educator and give them the gift of providing school lunches or school fees in their name. Many of the children in AFCA’s programs cannot afford to attend school nor to be fed nutritious lunches but these gifts change that. Gifting this opportunity is such a beautiful way to honor the teachers in your life.
In addition to lunches and fees, you can also honor teachers that teach in our school programs by helping fund teacher salaries or by providing books and other reading materials in their classrooms.
Gifts for Gardeners
For someone with a green thumb, gift hope by donating a Garden Package in their name! This gift provides meaningful work for HIV+ women at a community garden project in Miwani, Kenya. Gifting this to someone you love provides others with fair wages and feeds orphans and school children alongside many others in the community. We are even expanding Miwani Gardens to include a Rice Paddy so that the community can harvest grain to eat, store, and sell at the market for income.
If your gardener also loves pollinators as much as we do, a Bee Package might be sweet. The Bee Package gift includes ongoing training, a bee hive, a beekeeping suit, and assistance in selling the honey the family produces to market. Besides an income, the honey also provides nutrition and helps to pollinate gardens that provide food for the community. In addition to these opportunities, you can also purchase a share of our Tree Project which supports the local ecosystem as well as those that live in the Motobo Districts of Zimbabwe through the planting of indigineous/exotic and fruit trees to fortify the land, add a food source for humans and animals, and generate income for families.
Gifts that empower women and girls
We know that when girls are empowered, it means healthier families. We also know that equipped and educated girls are the key to breaking the cycle of poverty for people around the globe. Empowered women strengthen communities. Give the gift of continued education and stop period poverty through the donation of a Pad Kit so that a girl can remain in school during menstruation.
Assure that expecting mothers are able to give birth safely. Provide a maternity kit with the necessities to perform safe and healthy infant deliveries, allowing mothers to return home with the babies safe from contamination from blood born or infectious diseases.
Once the baby has arrived, many mothers resort to carrying their infant home wrapped in found plastic or paper. We make sure babies go home dressed in clean clothing with cloth diapers, a sweater, hat and booties as well as some soft layette blankets. Purchase a baby kit to keep sure little ones are warm and comfortable, every mother’s dream.
Babies, mothers and grandmothers are not forgotten! Give to our sisal project which employs HIV+ and windowed women. Elderly women also benefit from the project and help to turn the sisal into rope that’s sold and used by the community. Skills learned means hope for the future of these women, who can now support themselves, and continue their children’s educations, improving their lives. Women also learn to sew in groups, to tailor and make beautiful items like dresses, belts, backpacks and skirts. Support our tailoring program to give a woman a chance at a better life.
You can also chip in to help us ship a container with life saving medical supplies. These containers are expensive to send such a long distance, and pitching in assures that our program partner hospitals receive the supplies we’ve collected, like hospital beds, infant incubators, cribs, walkers, and much more. Help us make a shipment of our next 40’ Container.
The Gift of Water
We take for granted the fact that we turn on a faucet and clean, non-contaminated water flows right into our home, but that is not how billions of people in the world live and it’s a sad fact that many people do not have access to safe, clean water and sanitation. In order to support better sanitation and hygiene, AFCA provides water filtration kits and also long drop style toilets so that people have safe and decent toilets, as well as reduced contaminated water which spreads disease.
The Gift of Spreading the Word!
Our work isn’t possible without our donors, and those that do the work everyday to make sure that our programs run smoothly. Why not help us bring awareness to our work and purchase some AFCA swag like these super soft and comfy tee shirts or a baseball cap. Someone may ask you where you got that amazing shirt or hat from and you can tell them that your shirt helps support the children in AFCA’s programs and to come visit us on the web to learn more!
To see all of our gift options, click through to our online shop.
