The Greenwood SAGE Project: December: Alternative Gift Market

Upcoming Events

The Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans (PSARA) comes to the Greenwood Senior Center!

In an effort to continue expanding civic engagement at the Greenwood Senior Center, PSARA, a group dedicated to upholding justice and civil rights for seniors and all Americans, will begin holding a monthly discussion group at the senior center. PSARA is a chapter of the national Alliance for Retired Americans, working toward progressive change in the areas of health care, social security, housing, transportation, immigration, and many more. To learn more about PSARA's work, check out their website: www.psara.org.

The first meeting is this Thursday, June 10, from 1-2pm at the Greenwood Senior Center. All meetings are facilitated by Bette Reed, Community Vice President of PSARA.

Join us!

Monthly SAGE meetings begin.

On Tuesday, June 15^th, at 2pm, SAGE will have its first monthly meeting to begin discussing SAGE’s transition into a more sustainable model (see post below). We’ll talk about our collaboration with PSARA and start planning for the fall. Please join us if you can!

As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Emily at the Greenwood Senior Center (206-297-0875/emily@greenwoodseniorcenter.org). Thanks!

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

December: Alternative Gift Market

Shop for the holidays and change the world at the same time? On Wednesday, December 10, 2008, the Greenwood SAGE Project hosted an Alternative Gift Market at the GSC to help raise money and awareness for a variety of national and international humanitarian projects. Shoppers were given the opportunity to browse colorful display booths while enjoying a warm and festive atmosphere with live music and holiday treats. Gifts could then be purchased to support particular projects in honor of friends and relatives.

Volunteers chose from projects selected by Alternative Gifts International, an organization that has been "sending gifts of peace and justice - food, shelter, trees, water, medicines - around the world since 1986." Each volunteer then carefully researched their project and designed a project display with photos and information.

Volunteers working on project displays

The market turned out to be a wonderful success. Volunteers educated and enlightened shoppers about the various geographical, social, and political factors creating a need for each of the respective projects and how each particular project addresses the need and helps provide solutions. Shoppers who chose to donate received beautiful cards with inserts explaining to recipients the nature of donation made in their honor.

Example of card insert

At the end of the day, $3,526 had been raised in support of the featured projects at the Greenwood Senior Center's Alternative Gift Market! Not only will this make a significant impact in the lives of needy people around the world, but this will also make an impact in the lives of the givers and receivers of alternative gifts who are made aware of important global issues and participate in a reorientation of what it means to give during the holiday season. Thank you to all who contributed your time, effort, and enthusiasm to make this event possible!

Top Five Projects Supported by Alternative Gift Market shoppers:

New Water Wells for Nomadic People in Sudan - $644
Wheelchairs for New Freedom in Ecuador - $458
Trees for the Rural Poor in the Caribbean - $355
Micro-Loans for Poverty Reduction in Haiti - $245
Renewed Sight for the Blind in Cambodia - $219

To view a photo album with more photos from the Alternative Gift Market, click below:

Alternative Gift Market at the Greenwood Senior Center

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Welcome

Welcome to the Greenwood SAGE Project blog, where you can find information, photos, and reflections on past and upcoming projects.

The SAGE Project is a program of the Greenwood Senior Center, located in the Phinney/Greenwood neighborhood of North Seattle.

SAGE stands for Seniors: Active, Giving, and Engaged. The intent of the project is to bring seniors together to learn about, discuss, and address social justice issues on a local, national, and global level. The hope is to couple education and action, recognizing that becoming familiar with an issue is necessary to engage in effective action.

How does it work?

WE CHOOSE AN ISSUE
Each quarter focuses on a particular issue that is affecting communities at the global, national, or local level.

WE LEARN ABOUT IT
Typically, we have one or two education days a month, occurring on a Tuesday afternoon. Education can be in the form of a presentation or lecture by a local organization that is working to address the specific issue or through screening various films related to the issue.

WE TAKE ACTION
The purpose of SAGE is not to merely learn about an issue, but also try to address a component of that issue through action in our community. Action can be in the form of volunteering for a local organization, writing letters to congress people, or informing our peers about the issue. What is important is finding an appropriate avenue to turn our knowledge into action.

SAGE coordinator

Hello SAGE participants! My name is Emily Brosius, and I am the Americorps intern for the SAGE program here at the Greenwood Senior Center. A little bit about myself: I am a recent graduate of Carleton College, a small liberal arts school in Northfield, Minnesota, where I studied anthropology and sociology. I learned about public health issues abroad in South Africa for a semester and completed a senior thesis on personhood and Alzheimer’s Disease in the United States. I play the violin, the er-hu (a stringed Chinese musical instrument), enjoy pick-up games of soccer and Frisbee, and love baking. This summer, I worked at an all-boys camp in northern Wisconsin where I taught a cooking class. But perhaps most importantly, I strive to be aware of social justice issues both within our community and abroad and to make a continual effort to confront them in the ways that I can.

The Greenwood SAGE Project