Shop with a purpose

Its that time again....when we run around from store to store shopping for everyone on our list. If you are like me you end up WAY over spending in your pursuit of that "perfect gift." Well this Christmas I challenge you to cut down on that spending...or at the very least shop with a purpose. Below are some of my favorite ways to shop with a purpose. I hope you will check out each of them and buy from them instead this holiday season.

The first store I'm going to lead you to is Mi Esperanza. It is a store that I personally shop at multiple times a year. "Mi Esperanza means “My Hope” and began in 2002 with a vision to provide assistance for women in the villages surrounding Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Providing micro-business loans and skills training to women living in extreme poverty does this. Many of the women are single mothers who are supporting their families without any type of assistance or opportunity to change their life circumstances. Their lives are about survival and trying to meet the most basic of needs of life; food, clean water, education, healthcare and shelter. Through Mi Esperanza, women are finding a new sense of hope, self-empowerment and stability. Mi Esperanza brings HOPE to women, young and old, by giving them educational and financial tools that enable them to change their lives and the future of their children." You will LOVE anything you buy from Mi Esperanza and the money you spend will go a long way to help this ministry continue doing the wonderful things they do.

The next "store" I want you to look at is called Water4Christmas. This site is full of an assortment of goodies that you will love. All proceeds go directly to building fresh water wells in Liberia, West Africa. Last year this organization raised enough money to build two wells in Liberia, Africa simply through the goods sold on their site. Help us in beating that goal this year. I was a personal fan of their notecards and journals. There are people all over the world literally dying of thirst....all while we have the convenience of turning on a faucet and getting running water. So this Christmas please join me in shopping so that others can have water. Go check it out!

Please, please, please join me in shopping at these stores or other stores like it this year. It will make your shopping seem so much more purposeful and justified! :)