Giving the good

Instead of buying bacon floss as a stocking stuffer for your man, or giving fruitcake to the gal sitting in the cubicle next to you this holiday, give a gift that will go further than the junk drawer. Ok, I take it back, the bacon floss is pretty awesome, but still, here are a few alternatives sure to make this holiday merry and bright for both the person you love and beyond.

December 18, 2009; 6:00 AM • by Patience Salgado

Buy the farm

How about a goat or a chicken? No, really. Heifer International has been providing livestock to families in need all over the world for over 60 years. This simple idea has given the gift of sustainable living and improved the quality of life for more people than you and I could ever count.

Give some Hope

Hope in the Cities has been working to build trust across divides of race, class, and culture in Richmond for over 20 years. By donating to this non-profit promoting conversations about reconciliation and race, you can be part of taking the first steps toward healing our city. Tuck this gift in a stocking for the true blue RVAer in your life.

Help a few FRIENDS

Lucy Goode Brooks, a former slave, founded FRIENDS in 1871 in as a post-Civil War orphanage in historic Jackson Ward. Today the non-profit serves as a child and family agency to the area. Make a donation or buy the Lucy bracelet reminding someone you love how amazing it is what one woman and her friends can do.

Loan a little

Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering low income entrepreneurs around the globe. You get to pick the budding business man or women to lend your $25 bucks to and watch it grow. This might be the most addicting do-gooding site we’ve found yet.

Go Guerrilla

Ask the friend who you were going to exchange gifts with to go do some Guerrilla Goodness instead. Take whatever cash you planned to spend and buy gift cards in small amounts ($3 or $5) for coffee, bus passes, etc. Leave the cards in random places all over the city with a small note explaining your act of random kindness. I promise it will be the best holiday memory.

Patience Salgado lives in a state of dreamy chaos with her husband Jorge and their four kids in the Westover Hills neighborhood. She slings a baby while she writes for Supersisters at PBSparents.org and tries to think up her next guerrilla goodness project.