Residents opt for alternative christmas shopping

The annual Alternative Christmas event, held at the United Church of Chapel Hill on Saturday and Sunday morning, offered locals the opportunity to purchase unique Christmas gifts such as handmade Guatemalan purses or woven baskets from Ghana.

Proceeds from the event will go directly to various charities, nonprofit organizations and impoverished countries around the world.

"We live in such horrible luxury," said Nancy Gustaveson, a local resident who attended the event. "At One World Market, for example, I know that the funds are for help, not for the people who are selling. This event is a way of tying people together and making people aware."

One World Market, a volunteer-driven, nonprofit gift shop located in Durham that sells handmade crafts from third-world countries to preserve ethnic art forms, was one of many organizations taking part in the event.

One World also supports fair trade - the idea that artisans in third-world countries should get a fair price for their work.

"One World Market has been a part of this event for years," said Dena Lind, One World's off-site sales coordinator. "Once people start demanding fair trade items, more money will go into these societies."

Dianne Bertsch, a local resident who attended the event, said that she didn't like shopping in the malls and that she wanted to get her Christmas shopping done early.

"This event started out to be a small thing," she said. "I like the idea of giving something that's not materialistic."

Susan Azzu, a local resident, described the traditional Christmas as materialistic and said the event Saturday offered something unique and refreshing.

"It's different because these aren't things you can buy in a store. Variety makes our Christmas more diverse," she said.

Hungry Heart Food Ministries was at the event Saturday selling crunchy golden peanut brittle to raise money for a $50-per-plate, four-course meal prepared by volunteer Susan Gardner, a teacher at A Southern Season's cooking school.

Proceeds will go to people in the eastern part of the state who are still recovering from 1999's Hurricane Floyd.

"I have many years in a restaurant career, and I wanted to do something that had meaning," Gardner said. "I wanted people to come in and feel that their meal was feeding other people, too. I felt that was a really important connection."

Hungry Heart raised $10,000 last year and has raised $11,000 so far this year.

French Connections, located in Pittsboro, imports fair trade original art from France and various countries in Africa - including Uganda, Ghana, Kenya and Botswana - and was at the event.

"It's a profit-profit situation," said Wendy Dufour of French Connections. "We need to feed our family, and they need to feed their families."

Alecia Brower, a local resident, said the opportunity to give back to the community was what attracted her to the church Saturday.

"The holidays are about giving, not just to our families or ourselves, but even to people we don't even know."

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.