#AlternativeGiving2023

Support justice all year and around the world.

Each of these local and international choices is carefully vetted for bringing real change and for reaching groups that are often ignored or hidden. Review the range of options select those you wish to support.

Donations accepted through December 31, 2023 11:59 PM.

DONATE NOW!

Click on the photo to view the Alternative Giving PowerPoint Presentation or click here to listen to the Alternative Giving presentation to Adult Education on November 19.

 

Download and print your Alternative Giving 2023 Greeting Card!

Make a donation in honor of a loved one, friend, coworker, etc. and complete your gift by letting them know that this donated gift to Alternative Giving was made in their honor. 

 

 

Alternative Giving 2023

 

1. A Wider Circle (click here to donate)

Their Mission: To end poverty for one individual and one family after another.

A Wider Circle provides basic needs, comprehensive workforce readiness, wellness programming, and long-term wraparound support.

A Wider Circle addresses racial disparities and inequities. Donations will support family needs in Highland Dwellings in Ward 8 in Anacostia, SE Washington D.C.

 

2. Summer Mission Trip 2024 (click here to donate)

This coming summer, BHPC youth will work with adult members of the church to do hands-on service projects on a mission trip that is still in development. There will be a focus on teaching opportunities that allow participants to learn together about justice and peace while serving communities in need. New skills will emerge. New relationships will be built. Mutual respect will grow across the board.

 

 

3. Village Health Teams in Buyobo, Eastern Uganda (click here to donate)

Buyobo has continued to lead the way with a fully functioning Village Health Team that is a model for rural health care in Uganda. This success story has been boosted by steady ongoing Alternative Giving donations that have helped supply protective gear, clean water, essential latrines, rural motorcycle ambulances and on-going training. A great collaborative effort continues!

 

4. EDEN at Faith Presbyterian, in Anacostia, D.C. (click here to donate)

EDEN stands for “Everyone Deserves to Eat Naturally.” The recent gardening efforts were not a win-win. Groundhogs ate all the lovely garden produce overnight! The Ward 8 community members continue to deserve reliable sources of healthy food, however. So we are putting our emphasis on supporting Faith Presbyterian’s Feeding Families efforts to provide excellent nutrition as well as nutrition education. A real bonus is that members of Bradley Hills work and learn side by side with members of Faith Presbyterian to share friendship and food to the Ward 8 community.

 

5. Peace in Israel/Palestine – New Story Leadership/NSL (click here to donate)

Nothing is more relevant at this moment in human history than to build shared understanding and trust. NSL continues to bring young adult Palestinians and Israelis together to create a new story, a new narrative for a peaceful future. All alumni of the NSL intern program have been brought together online since the terror and ensuing war unfolded on October 7. Listening to each other’s stories is painful, but moving forward and finding ways to be mutually supportive offers real hope in the midst of darkness. Support for NSL is an investment in hope.

 

6. Gaza Health Care/Al Ahli Arab Hospital (click here to donate)

The Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem’s response to the bombing at Al Ahli Arab Hospital was, “Drawing inspiration from the enduring human spirit in the face of overwhelming adversity, we recall the verse from Psalm 34:18, ‘The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.’ This spirit is embodied in the face of the horrifying shattering of a sanctuary of compassion and healing in Gaza, culminating in the loss of hundreds of innocent lives.”

Al Ahli Hospital reopened to provide compassionate, quality care for a short time. As of the time of this writing, it is not clear when it will be fully operational again. But many repairs are needed. Grieving must take place, but when the hospital can fully reopen, the plan is that it will again be a beacon of hope in Gaza. Donations will go toward the recovery of the building and its staff. The photo, courtesy of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, was taken in late October 2023 before supplies ran out.

 

7. Asia Pacific American Legal Resource Center (APALRC) (click here to donate)

This Washington D.C.-based organization works to protect the civil and legal rights of low-income Asian immigrants in Metro-DC. The U.S. legal system can be difficult to navigate, particularly when there are language barriers, cultural differences and an incomplete grasp of one’s rights to justice. Programming includes a three-pronged strategy that combines community legal education, individual representation and systemic advocacy. $100 helps to provide more just outcomes to immigrants in our community.

 

8. GenOUT Choir for LGBTQ+ & Allies (click here to donate)

GenOUT is the D.C. area’s only vocal ensemble for LGBTQ+ and allied youth. It gives these young people some visibility, a collective voice, and a way to connect that voice to the larger community. Donations for GenOUT support a sense of welcome, belonging, and joy. $100 supports online programming and music lessons.

 

9. Ethiopia/Oromia – Educating Girls (click here to donate)

This innovative program transforms the lives of rural girls. It was designed to keep bright rural girls in school who had dropped out or were at risk of leaving school to meet family work and health emergencies. Many were destined for early marriage due to extreme family poverty and insecurity. By providing mentors, stipends, and community support for 15 girls at each site, it has kept them all safe from violence and rampant conflict-driven rape during political turmoil. They are performing very well in school. Two REAL students who started in elementary school have gone on to become MDs. One is pictured showing her formal graduation shot. Well educated girls are indeed the key to a better future. $50 is a scholarship share; $360 pays for a full scholarship.

 

10.CASA: Court Appointed Special Advocate (Voices for Children Montgomery) (click here to donate)

CASAs (Court Appointed Special Advocates) are volunteers who are trained to serve as voices for one of our most vulnerable populations–abused and neglected children. Voices for Children Montgomery’s Mission is to prepare and support these advocates (CASAs) for children in Montgomery County foster care to ensure their placement in safe, permanent homes. Two Bradley Hills’ members are actively involved in the local CASA program.

$250 trains one CASA volunteer for one child in foster care. Donations of any amount are greatly appreciated. Support the goal to serve ALL children in Montgomery County foster care in need of a CASA advocate.

 

11. Asia-Forman Christian College/Pakistan Supporting Muslim and Christian Women (click here to donate)

Support for women’s scholarships at Forman Christian College is a contribution to peace in a volatile part of the world. At FC College, Muslims and Christians, rich and poor, rural and urban, men and women study together in mutual respect. In 2022-2023 Bradley Hills continued support for nine women (5 Muslims and 4 Christians) in graduate study. Tuition is approximately $2,000 for one year. A gift of any amount will go toward women’s education at FC College in Lahore, Pakistan and can sustain or increase the number of women in school. 100% of donations go directly to benefit the scholarship recipients and occasionally to assist with the special requirement for rural women–for travel, lodging, or language support.

 

12. Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) – Disaster Relief Kits/Gifts of the Heart (click here to donate)

Pre-assembled kits allow PDA to respond quickly and effectively to natural disasters, including hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, flooding, and other extreme weather events. In recent years, more than 100,000 kits have been distributed every year, both in the U.S. and abroad. Bradley Hills hosts disaster kit assembly events that are funded with some budgeted funds and with funds from Alternative Giving.

$78 covers supplies for one clean up kit; $17 covers one hygiene kit; $17 covers one school kit.

 

13. Be a Friend to Friends Club (click here to donate)

Friends Club is a daytime home for several men in the early to mid stages of Alzheimer’s for up to 4 days per week. The host site is Bradley Hills. The men participate in a variety of activities that are engaging, mentally stimulating, and emotionally supportive. The hours spent at Friends Club is also welcomed by caregivers who appreciate the much-needed respite time that it offers. The frequent comment about Friends Club is that it is a “Godsend.” Your gift of $105 covers one day of activities and lunch.

 

14. Queerly Gathered (click here to donate)

Queerly Gathered was co-founded in 2022 by Matt Nabinger and Cali Bronkema as an affirming worshipping community for members of the LGBTQ+ community and their loved ones. Over the past year, Queerly Gathered has broadened to monthly worship, faith conversations, and social activities. People who have been badly hurt by the church based on their sexual orientation or gender identity are finding a place to belong–a re-entry point into the Christian community. Help support this very important work.

 

15. My Dorm Room (click here to donate)

My Dorm Room’s mission is to foster a positive college experience for first generation, low-income students. The program provides qualifying students with a $250 spending limit with which they can select what they need from a curated registry of essential dorm items. They can go on to their dorm rooms with confidence that they will have what they need. This reduces anxiety for the student and the parents. A gift to this program helps alleviate this “invisible inequity” that first generation students face when they start college.

Contributing $250 or any portion of that amount will help students buy their essential dorm items.

 

16. Mexico, Kids First – Orthopedic Care & Surgery (click here to donate)

Teams of orthopedic surgeons live out a mission to treat children in Guanajuato, Mexico. The volunteer medical teams travel from the U.S. each summer to perform life-changing reconstructive surgeries. Each trip they correct limb deformities for an average of 150 children from subsistence farm families, for whom treatment would not otherwise be available.

$100 helps offset costs of equipment, casts, crutches, specialized bandaging, etc.

 

 

17. Alternative Gifts General Fund – Support Justice All Year Long (click here to donate)

This discretionary fund allows for a compassionate and immediate response in the coming year to issues and crises not yet known or anticipated.