It may only be a matter of putting goods paid for by others into more useful circulation. For instance, recent surveys show that €10,000,000 is spent each year in Ireland on younger-generation clothing items which are never once worn (e.g., sales bargains, garments found to be the wrong size, items received as gifts but considered unattractive, etc.)

De-cluttering
To name but one organization, the Irish Wheelchair Association in the south east [056 7762775] has launched an appeal for such unworn clothing items – so that they can be disposed of, and the proceeds devoted to the Association’s work. We often make resolutions to lead  a more clutter-free life. Any chance of the Great De-Clutter beginning in one’s own wardrobe?

And then if you want to re-stock your wardrobe, would you ever consider giving a sort of ‘right of first refusal’ to the charity-shops? In an affluent Ireland, their turnover would not have increased by 35% in a few years, if their displays were not improving the rather narrow mass-produced (and sometimes massively marked-up !) range. An Irish Times feature writer recently assured us that not only did she get many of her wardrobe needs met at these shops, but she found them good for kitchen crockery and for furniture also.

Those bargain shops help organizations like (to name but a few) the St. Vincent De Paul Society, Threshold, the National Council for the Blind, the Irish Cancer Society, Enable (cerebral palsy), Oxfam (famine-relief). The whole sector is prospering – thanks also to 3,000 volunteers.

Gifts should not waste money
Of course, when it comes to the spend on gift-giving, there are now ways of short-circuiting waste from the outset. Rather than chance someone ending up with a gift which is only left aside and taking up space, you can now send your friend a greeting card detailing what kind of gift you have donated to a charity in his or her name.

This idea has been developed as the ‘Global Gift Plan’ by Trocaire, the Irish Catholic agency for world development [1850 408 408]. If you have €50 to spend, for instance, a specially-designed greeting card will say that you have donated a start-up kit for some trade apprentice in Africa. €70 will buy some Third World farmer an ox plough. €35 will supply a village pig, to breed piglets.

If, however, you are interested in the group-gift range for the Third World, you are probably better contacting Bothar [1800 268463]. An in-kid dairy goat is quoted at €300. Bee-hives, flock of chicks, and breeding rabbits are much less expensive. An in-calf dairy cow will set you back  €1,800.

In theory, a whip-around collection for the world’s poor is an added expense to a ‘big day’ – but when a large group is splashing out on a celebration, smaller amounts go practically unnoticed.

By the way, the idea of sending a gift to charity in someone’s name is a spin-off of an initiative which has already taken off in other countries: ‘Buy Nothing Day’, observed on the last Saturday of November. Its originators believe that, in the extreme case, a person can fall victim to a ‘spend-o-mania’ addiction.

Coffee-producers: cutting  them  in
Perhaps the simplest way of all to send money winging its way to a good cause, is to include Fairtrade products like tea and coffee in your regular shopping-basket. The Fairtrade label ensures that several price mark-ups which would otherwise go to middle-men, now go directly to the Third World producer-farmer. (Typical Fairtrade brands are: Bewley’s Direct tea and coffee, Teadirect, and Cafedirect). They may cost marginally more - but with Fairtrade brands, one has the satisfaction, when sitting down to a First World meal, of not having completely forgotten those on the Third World breadline.

In fact, as a country we may have a special mission to keep the prosperous developed world reminded of the under-nourished developing world. At least, that is how Mark Malloch Brown, director of the United Nations Human Development programme, sees it. And that is why he chose Dublin for the launch in July 2003 of his organization’s Annual Report.

He believes that Ireland can be a unique link between the rich countries of the northern half of the globe and the poor southern countries – for two reasons. First, we have shown some independence of the major world powers in the international fields of human rights, peace-keeping, development. Second, we have a long tradition of missionary and humanitarian outreach.