The days and weeks surrounding your wedding are a time of plenty, filled with love, food and gifts. However, with many couples living together before marriage, there is less reason to stock the cupboards with new china and cutlery. Most couples actually find they need to pare down in order to combine all of their belongings. That being said, there is more need than ever for alternative gift registries.
One such option is World Vision, Canada’s largest private relief and development agency. Dedicated to overcoming poverty and injustice worldwide, World Vision has a proven track record of changing the lives of children and families through health care and education. The World Vision gift catalogue contains over 60 different gifts ranging in price from $25 to $15,000. A mere $50 donation can supply an entire classroom in Africa. Similarly, a gift of $100 can stock a medical clinic in a developing nation. And, just to put things in perspective, for the price of a single bottle of champagne, four girls in rural China can be given the opportunity to attend school.
For Victoria, B.C. couple, Barbara Carr-Harris and Glen McElroy, using World Vision’s gift catalogue in lieu of traditional wedding gifts was, in the words of Carr-Harris, “An amazing way to honour our fundamental belief in helping others.” Carr-Harris actually saw World Vision in action while visiting a friend’s sponsor child in Uganda. The trip which she describes as “the most moving experience I’ve ever had,” literally changed her life. That Christmas, she and her now husband sponsored their own child, and the year after that they used the World Vision gift catalogue to buy goats for families in Africa. When it came to planning the wedding, World Vision was a natural fit.
Carr-Harris contacted a representative of the organization and arranged four gift options, all of which were destined for Uganda, the country that had affected her so deeply. World Vision even made up a card for the couple to include with their wedding invitations. As each of the 180 guests called in to place his or her order, World Vision kept a record and sent cards to Carr-Harris stating which gifts had been purchased and by whom. In the end, the best part of the experience was the “rebound effect,” the chance to inspire other people, says Carr-Harris. The World Vision gift catalogue was the perfect way for this bride and groom to celebrate their love, “We have so much, and we need to think about what we can do for the world.”
For more information, visit worldvision.ca.
