Web site offers ideas for gifts to help needy children abroad

By Tanya Bricking
Advertiser Staff Writer

If you don't already feel guilty enough about what you have and others don't, check out worldvision.com.

Like those TV commercials about starving children, this Web site tugs at the heartstrings with its holiday gift catalog.

Here's a sample: "Did you have a favorite blanket when you were little that kept you cozy at night? Some children in Africa get cold at night, too. You can give a blanket to make sure they stay warm and feel safe."

The site's sponsor, World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization founded in 1950, suggests last-minute Christmas gifts like these:

• Buy a dairy goat for a parentless family in Africa ($50).
• Provide clothing to a homeless child in the United States ($25).
• Send a child in Africa to school for a year ($30).
• Feed a refugee baby in Lebanon for a month ($40).
• Provide shelter and care to a street child in Mexico ($110).

World Vision says it works with community leaders in developing countries to identify and meet needs and came up with the catalog as a meaningful, fun way to teach children about giving to the needy.