Give your mom a gift of peace this Mother's Day

Idea exchange
May 2007

How many lightbulbs does it take to change a Christian?
Give your mom a gift of peace this Mother's Day

Give your mom a gift of peace this Mother's Day
Mothers across the country will wake up to breakfast in bed and flowers on Sunday, May 13, but Mother's Day hasn't always been just about pampering the one who cares for us the rest of year. In the United States, the celebration started as Mother's Day for Peace after Julia Ward Howe called for a day celebrating women who work for peace following the Civil War, according to the Ploughshares Fund.

At Rediscoveringmothersday.org , you can give your mom a "gift of peace" by donating to the Ploughshares Fund, which supports initiatives preventing conflicts and the spread of weapons. For a donation of $50 or more, they will send a handwritten Mother's Day card, and for a donation of $250 or more, they also will send a bouquet of organic flowers to the recipient of your choice.

The Ploughshares Fund is just one of many charities encouraging families to celebrate their mother by donating to a cause she would support. If you still want to give a gift though, you can celebrate Mother's Day in a unique, peaceful way by giving her a fair trade gift. Fair trade organizations have special gift baskets or highlight certain products that are appropriate for moms. The second Saturday of May appropriately is World Fair Trade Day . Fair trade festivals and fashion shows would be a fun mother-child activity if you live near on of the 17 events scheduled for May 12 across the United States.

Here are some fair trade venders and charities who are offering a just way to honor your mother while supporting other mothers around the world:

Flowers:
Organic Bouquet offers flowers as well as gift baskets that protect the environment and improve farm worker safety by eliminating the use of toxic pesticides. (Provides flowers for both Plaughshares Fund and Mercy Corps.)

Mercy Corps is offering a bouquet of Asiatic Sunset Lilies for $70, with one-third of the cost going to their programs, which work to alleviate poverty across the world.

Donations:
For a minimum suggested donation of $35, Pura Vida Coffee, will send your mom a personalized card and will help children in coffee-growing communities in Ethiopia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Nicaragua get health care and education through the fair trade coffee company's partner programs.

For a donation, Women for Women International, which connects sponsors with women rebuilding their lives in the aftermath of war, will send a card to your mom. The card features a picture of a child of a Rwandan woman with HIV who receives a stipend from a sponsor, helping her take care of her family and educate other women about HIV/AIDS. Fair trade crafts from women are also available through Women for Women International.

Fair Trade Mother's Day Gifts:
Global Exchange has three gift packages put together especially for mothers. The Mother's Day Gift Pack ($25.95) includes tea, chocolate, a candle, a greeting card, and a banana leaf gift box. The Mother's Day Gift Basket ($55.95) includes these items, plus a tea pouch, a "Garden-in-a-Can," and a ceramic mug, and it comes in a hand-woven grass basket. The Women Around the World Gift Basket ($88) includes items made by women that benefit women. The grass basket contains chocolate, tea, a tea pouch, a cd, coffee, jam, a silk-beaded ornament, a shopping tote, and a card. Global Exchange also lists other products that mothers might like

Oxfam America is highlighting its fair trade honey, beaded jewelry, and peace books for kids (each $18) for Mother's Day. For a little more money, a Mother's Day gift can help support an indigenous craftswoman ($90) or help somebody start a small business ($100).

A Greater Gift , Ten Thousand Villages , and World of Good all highlight products, such as jewelry, bags, and spa kits, that will brighten a mother's day while helping laborers in the developing world.—Megan Sweas

Back to page top