Alternative Giving

Your Impact, Their Gift: Celebrating the Season with CGS Alternative Giving

​Do you ever find yourself fretting about what to get your grown children or other adults who seem to have everything? Or perhaps they’re planning to get you another wonderful thing you simply don't need? Many of us have reached a point of too much abundance and too little storage space.

Here is a thoughtful solution: Alternative Gift Giving (AGG)!

Donating to a non-profit which upholds your loved ones’ values can be a meaningful alternative to a physical gift. It’s a perfect way to honor, remember, or celebrate someone by making a real difference in the lives of people with very high levels of need.

Our Featured Causes: Loving Our Neighbors

This year, the Outreach Committee focused on causes with either a direct CGS connection or those dedicated to serving disadvantaged children and families. Your generosity will support the following proven charities:

Loving Our Neighbors Here at Home

• The Rector's Discretionary Fund: A tradition in the Episcopal Church for centuries, this fund allows our clergy (Imogen and Justin) to provide immediate, confidential assistance to church members and others in need. Donations are split evenly to help with basic needs like food, rent, transportation, utilities, and scholarships for diocesan youth activities.
• Shepherd’s Table Soup Kitchen: Located right here at CGS, Shepherd’s Table feeds a free, hot, and nutritious lunch to over 275 people daily, Monday through Friday. CGS had a key role in starting Shepherd’s Table and continues to have members serving as volunteers. (www.shepherds-table.org)
  
  

Loving Our Neighbors in Wake County

• Urban Ministries of Wake County: Serving over 64,000 low-income individuals and families yearly, UM provides essential services including food, healthcare, and medicine. Their Helen Wright Center also offers shelter and programming for single women experiencing homelessness. CGS and other local churches helped start UM 44 years ago. (www.urbanmin.org)
  
  

Loving Our Neighbors in the World

• World Pediatrics: Based in the US, World Pediatrics provides much-needed surgery and specialty care to critically ill children and babies who would not receive these services otherwise. They partner with local healthcare resources in sites including the US, Haiti, India, and Vietnam, and have a special program to reduce infant mortality. (www.worldpediatrics.org)
• Episcopal Relief & Development (ERD): The official relief and development agency of the Episcopal Church responds to suffering around the world. ERD partners with locally-led organizations in communities impacted by injustice, poverty, disaster, and climate change across the US, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the Caribbean. (www.episcopalrelief.org)
  
  

How to Give: Dates and Logistics
We have made participating in Alternative Gift Giving easy this holiday season!

When & Where to Give
Visit our Alternative Gift Giving tables which will be set up in the PLC lobby after both the 8:00 and 10:15 services on the first, second, and third Sundays of December:

• Sunday, December 7 (After Both Services)
• Sunday, December 14 (After Both Services)
• Sunday, December 21 (After Both Services)

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The tables will have all the necessary information, donation forms, and a variety of handcrafted and store-bought Christmas/holiday cards and inserts for you to complete your gifts on the spot.

Donation Details

• Minimum Suggested Gift: A $20 minimum per cause selected is suggested, but there is no maximum. You may choose as many or as few causes as you like, and can make multiple gifts to one or more organizations. You can also write in other charitable non-profits (501C3) of your choice.
• Payment: We accept cash, checks, and online donations through Realm. Please make checks payable to CGS, and be sure to write “AGG” in the memo line. We are also on track to accept debit/credit card payments at the table.
• Gift Cards: We will provide 4" by 5-1/4" inserts that are quick to fill in for "in honor of,” "in memory of,” and "in celebration of" designations.​

Online donations via Realm

Your donation amounts are processed by the church bookkeeper and reflected in your year-end giving statement from CGS, demonstrating how our church is helping people in need. After the third Sunday, CGS sends aggregate checks to each of the designated charities.
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Come visit our table this Advent season and experience the joy of giving a gift that truly matters!

Debbie Hostetter and Grace Sved