Valentine Lifesavers: Last Minute Ways to Win Hearts

["Lesley Crosson" <LCrosson@churchworldservice.org>]

Valentine lifesavers: 'Candy's dandy but alternative gifts are quicker
and grander'
CWS's Best Gift catalog offers instant-click, last minute heroes a way
to win hearts
 
NEW YORK, Feb. 10, 2012-- For Valentine’s Day, candy’s dandy but
alternative gifts are quicker, go farther, and don’t show up on the
bathroom scales, says humanitarian agency Church World Service.

The relief, development and refugee protection agency says giving an
affordable, “alternative gift” in your sweetheart’s name helps people in
the world’s poorest communities rise out of poverty, hunger and
childhood malnutrition – and can say more than a box of chocolates about
the love you share for one another and the world you live in.

CWS’s online Best Gift catalog (
https://secure2.convio.net/cws/site/Ecommerce?store_id=1241 )offers
creative options, especially for last minute lovers who find the
remaining florist flowers few and wilted, and instant redemption is a
click or phone call away with electronic ordering.

From the global agency’s alternative gift choices, you can sprinkle
some love around by giving nourishing micronutrients to spare a child
from malnutrition.  A year’s supply of Vitalita sprinkles (
https://secure2.convio.net/cws/site/Ecommerce?VIEW_PRODUCT=true&product_id=2401&store_id=1241
)for one child, or 200 packets of protein and nutrient-rich Plumpy’nut,
costs just $12.

Or plant a virtual kiss on your honey’s cheek by giving a $35 gift of
200 tree seedlings (
https://secure2.convio.net/cws/site/Ecommerce?VIEW_PRODUCT=true&product_id=1806&store_id=1241
)to poor rural farmers struggling to restore denuded lands so they can
grow lasting food and nutrition security for their families and for
market.

For more magnanimous gifters, or to put all your Valentine’s hearts in
one bigger, group-give basket, for $100 the CWS Best Gift catalog offers
the gift of 5 household-capacity sized bio-sand water filters (
https://secure2.convio.net/cws/site/Ecommerce?VIEW_PRODUCT=true&product_id=1813&store_id=1241
)– a simple, compact container system that filters out sediment,
pathogens and other impurities in a natural process through layers of
sand to produce safe drinking water.  One in six people worldwide don’t
have access to safe fresh water for drinking and hygiene.

For green-giving ideas, there’s a household biogas system (
https://secure2.convio.net/cws/site/Ecommerce?VIEW_PRODUCT=true&product_id=2542&store_id=1241
)for $150 that produces clean-burning methane gas for cooking and other
energy use, and whose safe, natural compost byproducts are also used to
fertilize crops.

When visiting the online catalog, you can also personalize a
Valentine’s e-card to send right away to your designated Valentines,
announcing the special gift you’ve given in their honor – and how it’s
helping struggling families build a better future.

More about Church World Service people-powered self-reliance and
sustainable development work: www.churchworldservice.org (
http://www.churchworldservice.org/ ), and to order alternative gifts
by phone, call: (800) 297-1516. 
 
Media Contact:
Lesley Crosson, 212-870-2676, media@churchworldservice.org
Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526, jdragin@gis.net