Completely Different

Gift market puts kindness before consumption

For those who find fighting Christmas crowds at the mall to be soul crushing, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church’s Alternative Gift Market in Fayetteville may be just the ticket. Dec. 2, between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m., you’ll find nearly 50 nonprofit organizations — both local and international — asking for donations and eager to explain their missions.

“It’s such a great alternative to the other kinds of shopping that you do,” says event organizer Mary Elizabeth Eldridge. “It’s meaningful and impactful and an easy way to make a gift in honor of someone for the holiday season. We’re happy to highlight all of the various missions of these nonprofits in our community.”

Missions of the participating organizations span a wide variety of areas, including health, education, food insecurity, the arts and animals.

Cambre Horne-Brooks is the executive director at the Fayetteville Public School Foundation and has attended the Gift Market for seven years.

“In a world of so much commercialism around Christmas, it’s so nice and refreshing to have a place where you can bring your family to look at other ways to give back, without asking for that commercial toy or that commercial gift that they’ll grow out of,” says Cambre. She notes that it’s also a great family activity. “The kids are able to roam from table to table to learn the ways they can get engaged in service.”