THIS YEAR'S IN-PERSON ALTERNATIVE CHRISTMAS FAIR WILL TAKE PLACE ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8!
Welcome to our 2024 Alternative Christmas Webpage! Take your time looking through the incredible organizations on this page, then join us on Sunday, December 8 to turn in your shopping list and payment!
(If you can't join us in-person on Dec. 8, you can still participate anytime in December. Please read the "At-Home Instructions" below!)
AT-HOME INSTRUCTIONS:
This year there are two options for completing your Alternative Christmas donation from home: Mail in a check (along with a printed-out shopping list) or submit an electronic payment online (along with an online shopping list).
If you have any questions or would like assistance, please contact the Office Manager at (909) 626-1201 or officemanager@claremontucc.org.
STEP 1:
Look through the 22 amazing organizations below to decide what you would like to give! Under each organization's section you will find photos, a short video, the items available for "purchase" on their shopping list, and more. (The “items” describe examples illustrating the work of the organization, not a mandatory accounting category.)
STEP 2:
CLICK HERE to download the full 2024 Alternative Christmas Shopping List.
Fill it out to tally up your total donation!
STEP 3:
After you have made your selections and are ready to submit your payment and shopping list, follow the instructions below:
Paying by CHECK:
- Please send only one check for the full total of your donations
- The check should be made out to “Claremont United Church of Christ” with “Alternative Christmas” noted in the memo line
- Please include a copy of your filled-out shopping list with your check!
- Your check and shopping list should be mailed to:
Claremont United Church of Christ
233 W. Harrison Ave.
Claremont, CA 91711
Paying by CARD or BANK TRANSFER:
- You will need to fill out an “online shopping list” before submitting your credit card payment
- Click the "PAY BY CARD/BANK TRANSFER" button below to fill out the online shopping list
- After your form is submitted, you will be automatically directed to our online payment page to complete your donation
"MEET" THE ORGANIZATIONS
Check out the many organizations below and learn more about what they do and how you can support them!
ABUNDANT HOUSING / HOUSING CLAREMONT
Inland Abundant Housing, Housing Claremont, and Claremont UCC are a team leading a much-needed advocacy campaign for more opportunities for affordable housing and services for unhoused people between the 605 and the 15 freeways. After years of lobbying in Sacramento, our movement won greatly reduced barriers and increased incentives for housing or homeless services projects on the property of faith-based institutions. Now we are creating tool kits of data and information and encouragement for many congregations to explore this mission opportunity and consider moving toward implementation.
We mobilize public support, especially religious, to oppose public opposition to housing developments and services for the homeless. We help Claremont and near-by communities comply with state laws and keep commitments in their housing plans which mandate increased housing and homeless services. Our essential local workers, our grandchildren, our elderly, our would-be neighbors of all kinds need public policies that enable local sufficient and affordable housing development of all income types-- especially ADUs, infill, moderate and high density, multi-family, including permanent supportive subsidized projects and immediate temporary housing options. We seek better enforcement of Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing and needed economic protections of tenants and small-scale landlords.
$15 General Fund
$25 General Fund
$50 General Fund
BEYOND BORDERS
Beyond Borders brings proven expertise that equips local leaders to make lasting change — even in challenging times. Your generosity will strengthen Haitian-led movements to overcome poverty, prevent violence and abuse, and develop local leaders.
Overcoming Poverty: Haitian families trapped in a generational cycle of extreme poverty face so many challenges all at once. Using a globally proven approach, Beyond Borders’ Family Graduation Program equips families to permanently escape hunger, homelessness, and extreme poverty in 24 months. Preventing Violence: One in eight Haitian children is trapped in servitude. One in three girls experiences violence by age 18. We organize communities to stop generational cycles of violence, addressing root causes like extreme poverty, lack of quality schooling, and the imbalance in power between women and men. Developing Leaders: Haiti is facing a leadership crisis. Beyond Borders invests in local leadership — including survivors of child servitude and domestic violence — building movements to overcome poverty and prevent violence. Since 2010, we’ve trained 75,000 women and men who are working to transform Haiti from the bottom up.
$40 Water filtration system for 1 family
$80 1 full year of school for 1 child
$100 2 animals (goats, donkeys, or pigs) for a family to breed
CHURCH WORLD SERVICE (CWS)
Church World Service is a faith-based organization related to the National Council of Churches in the USA, transforming communities around the globe through just and sustainable responses to hunger, poverty, displacement and disaster. Our vision is a world where all have food, voice, and a safe place to call home. The Work of CWS includes the areas of:
Hunger & Poverty work: CWS teams up locally and globally with communities around the world to move against hunger and poverty through sustainable change. Displacement: More and more families flee home because of climate and violence. But there are fewer places to go. We’re leading the charge in strategy and welcome. CWS is one of the 9 refugee resettlement agencies in the US and has 23 refugee and immigration offices spread across 17 different states. Disaster Response: We seek to educate people about preparation for disaster and provide relief and recovery efforts after a disaster strikes. At CWS our disaster response means committing to communities before and long after an emergency hits.
$15 10 concrete blocks for house walls in Haiti
$35 Drop-in shelter services for a child for a week in Serbia
$60 Home gardening for three families in Indonesia
CLAREMONT AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM (CLASP)
Since 2005 CLASP has offered after-school homework help to elementary students in the Claremont Unified School District. This year our CLASP programs started on Sept. 16 with seven in-person tutoring sessions that meet two days a week for 90 minutes each day at three locations. Tutoring sessions are offered Monday-Thursday at various times throughout the afternoon. A priority is to provide one-on-one homework help in a setting that is most beneficial for the student.
CLASP volunteer tutors work to meet the changing needs of students by providing individualized academic assistance and a supportive environment. A nutritious snack and some activities round out the day. Once a month an enrichment time is offered. Tutors, who come from the surrounding communities, colleges and high schools, are the backbone of the CLASP program. They serve as mentors and provide a positive relationship that is as important as the academic tutoring. Through personalized tutoring sessions, CLASP students develop a greater interest in school. There is no question that CLASP changes lives, one student at a time, and prepares academically vulnerable students for scholastic success.
$15 White board & markers
$75 Healthy snacks for 1 child for a full year
$100 Enrichment activities for 1 child for a full year
CLAREMONT CANOPY
www.claremontcanopy.org
www.facebook.com/claremontcanopy
www.instagram.com/claremontcanopy
Claremont Canopy serves as an ally and advocate to newly-arrived refugees, empowering them to thrive in their new community. We currently serve over 100 families, representing nine countries!
Welcome to Canopy - a community of volunteers that uses crowdsourcing and social media to connect people like you, who want to help, with new refugee families. Claremont Canopy is a 501c3 non profit corporation founded to support people displaced by forced migration who have resettled in Claremont and surrounding areas. We work to provide a community that is welcoming, affordable, and sustainable as they build new lives here. To achieve this, we connect people and organizations and create opportunities in education, employment, and community integration. We believe that community integration is enriching not only for our new neighbors but also for those of us who have called Claremont home for a while.
Donations will be used to fund our rental supplement program, college textbook reimbursement program and overall assistance to families as they rebuild their lives here in the United States.
$50 Overall assistance to families to rebuild
CLAREMONT COMMUNITY SCHOOL OF MUSIC (CCSM)
The mission of Claremont Community School of Music is to enrich the lives of individuals and the community through music; to provide outstanding instruction for amateur and aspiring professional musicians of all ages; to reach out to the community through diverse programs and public performances; to promote and nurture a lifelong passion for music; and most importantly to make music education available to all …one note at a time.
$10 Instruction books
$30 Instrument/Equipment rental
$100 Towards Private lessons
CLAREMONT MEALS ON WHEELS
Claremont Meals on Wheels utilizes caring volunteers to deliver hot lunches and promote social wellness to older adults and people who are disabled or chronically ill so they can live with dignity in the comfort of their own homes.
Since 1972 Claremont Meals on Wheels has operated as a private, nonprofit, all-volunteer organization with approximately 140 volunteers who pack and/or deliver the meals. The meals are reasonably priced and a reduced price is available to income-qualifying clients. Nutritious, well-balanced lunches are delivered Monday-Friday throughout the year, including all holidays. Meals are prepared by the culinary staff of the Mt. San Antonio Gardens retirement facility. New clients must be residents of Claremont.
$10 Birthday and holiday remembrances
$14 1 week of subsidized meals
$55 1 month of subsidized meals
CLAREMONT UCC EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER
$25 Day of childcare
CROSSROADS, INC.
Since 1974, the mission of Crossroads in Claremont and Pomona is to provide housing, education, support, counseling, and employment readiness in a homelike environment for women who have been incarcerated. Our primary goal is to empower women with new skills to help them step out of the revolving door of prison and move towards economic independence.
Licensed by the California Department of Healthcare Services, our six-month residential program provides services at no cost to the women. Crossroads has two homes: Harvard House and San Jose House located in Claremont. Crossroads provides housing, food and clothing at no cost to the women. We offer: case management to help set incremental goals, life skills programs including: critical thinking, financial literacy, and learning how to live independently, alcohol and drug education, employment readiness including interviewing skills, resume writing, and good employee habits, and coordination of essential appointments including: healthcare, banking, and getting a license or ID.
We are proud to be a member of the Claremont community for 50 years and that we were the first program in California to take women serving life sentences.
$15 Housing & transportation assistance
$25 Food & nutrition assistance
$65 Healthcare Program
DAVID & MARGARET FOSTER CARE & ADOPTION AGENCY
David & Margaret Foster Care and Adoption Agency is a non-profit organization that serves children ranging in age from birth to 18 years old, who will not be spending the holidays with their families. We provide the opportunity for a child to experience a stable normal family environment with loving foster parents or through adoption. This year, for our Annual Bright Angel Scroll Program, we are inviting businesses, community partners, and individuals to get involved, and sponsor a child’s “wish list” for the Holidays!
$40 Foster & Family Adoption Services
HOUSE OF RUTH
House of Ruth has provided comprehensive domestic violence services in Southern California communities for over 47 years. We serve over 15,000 community members through our 24-Hour Hot-line, Residential Shelter, Transitional and Permanent Housing Programs, Youth and Adult Counseling, Children’s Program, Legal Advocacy, Community Outreach, and Prevention Education.
We believe that everybody deserves to live their life free of violence. All donations received go towards the programs and services offered free of charge to domestic violence survivors and their families.
$10 Residential Shelter Program
$25 Children's Program
$50 Counseling Program
INLAND VALLEY HOPE PARTNERS
Inland Valley Hope Partners brings together faith communities, businesses, individuals, and community groups, and ensures the empowerment of people in need by providing food, shelter, and supportive services.
Inland Valley Council of Churches, dba Inland Valley Hope Partners, has been building hope for homeless and no or low-income families in the east end of Los Angeles County and the west end of San Bernardino County since 1968. Through our comprehensive service delivery, and collaboration with local service providers, families and individuals in crisis find hope once again and are empowered to break the cycles of poverty and despair.
Over the years, our programs have evolved and changed to reflect the needs of the communities we serve. We annually serve approximately 70,000 children, women, and men throughout our three core programs: Food Security, Housing and Healthy Living.
$20 Food Security Program
$45 Temporary Housing Program
(CLICK HERE for more information on Inland Valley Hope Partners.)
INTERFAITH MOVEMENT FOR HUMAN INTEGRITY
IM4HI is a statewide nonprofit organization that works within the intersection of faith and social justice. We advocate for the integrity of our asylum seeking and directly impacted community members affected by immigrant detention and incarceration. Donations are used to support free campaigns as well as support the advocacy for reimagining our broken justice system.
Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity has been joining hands with people of faith to act on these core beliefs. We defend the humanity of the immigrant and fight for the rights of the incarcerated. Working at the intersection of spirituality and social movements, we mobilize congregations to take a stand on issues of social justice like immigration and mass incarceration, and we engage people of faith to develop their own leadership so they can stand up against racism, discrimination and the political challenges of the day. We bring a faith voice to social movement coalitions, providing a compassionate religious perspective amidst the clamor of angry political actors.
$10 Interfaith Mover
$25 Peace Promoter
$50 Change Advocate
JUSTICE FOR IMMIGRANTS SEEKING ASYLUM (JISA)
Justice for Immigrants Seeking Asylum (JISA) is a volunteer organization founded in 2018 in response to the needs of immigrants seeking asylum detained at the GEO Corporation private prison facility in Adelanto, California, as well as other detention facilities in the San Gabriel Valley, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. JISA members include people from local churches, synagogues, and other faith groups, the academic community at area colleges, and concerned citizens.
Initially JISA focused on supporting detainees at Adelanto with visits, small donations to their commissary accounts, and helping them move to their final destination if they were released. While the onset of the pandemic curtailed our visits to Adelanto and pressure on the federal government resulted in the release or relocation of most of the immigrants housed there, JISA’s work continued.
Among other action, in 2024 we provided funds to asylum seekers who needed legal representation, coordinated a visit to an immigrant shelter in Mexicali and to a church in Calexico working on the frontline helping immigrants, aided asylum seekers with their everyday needs such as car repairs and payment for housing, and supported the United Methodist Church of Echo Park in their mission of creating a shelter for immigrants at their church. While JISA is not a 501(c)3 organization, donations to our fund are collected by Claremont UCC, which is a 501(c)3 organization; therefore, your donations are tax-deductible. Speaking for asylum seekers, we thank each of you for your support over the years.
$20 Commissary or telephone expenses during detention
$35 Cell phone to assist with communication after release while traveling
$50 Legal assistance while detained
NEWCOMERS ACCESS CENTER
Newcomers Access Center (NAC) helps refugee and immigrant families connect with appropriate services and resources in order to aid them to become self-sufficient and integrate meaningfully into the larger society. NAC finds organizations to work with newcomers to build integrated communities where all cultures are respected.
Refugees are some of the most vulnerable people in the world. Faced with war, persecution or terror, they leave everything behind to rebuild lives in a new country. Newcomers Access Center (NAC) was formed to welcome refugees into our community and help them become independent. Our partners and donors enable us to assist with temporary housing, rent subsidies, household items, diapers, car seats, college tuition and textbooks, driving lessons, down payment for a car and other needed items. Volunteers help with transportation, tutoring English, school enrollments, homework help, job sources, shopping and much more. NAC assists families throughout the Inland Valley.
$25 Rent Subsidies
$40 Baby Items/Diapers
$50 Driving Lessons
PACIFIC LIFELINE
Pacific Lifeline is a long-term transitional shelter for women and their children. Families are able to stay for a period of one to two years, with the average being ten months, while they work toward and achieve financial and social stability. During their stay, each mother is assisted in developing and implementing a plan that prepares her to obtain work that has a realistic career path and provides her with sufficient income to support her family.
In addition to providing for basic life needs such as food, clothing, toiletries, and housing, a variety of support services are an integral part of the comprehensive and strategic program at Pacific Lifeline. These services help the women and children overcome obstacles that have kept them in poverty, improve their health (mentally, physically, and spiritually), and gain the skills needed to achieve personal and economic independence, minimizing the threat of future homelessness. Weekly case management includes credit and budget counseling, career counseling, housing and childcare search support, and more.
ChildLife Specialists offer the children structure through developmental play sessions and weekly group activities that instill life lessons and boost self-esteem. Our therapy team provides individual, group, family, and sibling therapy. And our Extended Services Program includes continued case management and therapy, access to donated food, clothing, essentials, back to school clothes and supplies, and holiday gifts. Our Extended Services Program also includes two homes, located on our campus, with reduced rent. By the end of 2024, the construction of a duplex will be completed, adding two more units to our Next Steps housing program.
$25 Supplies to get rooms ready for new resident families
$50 Program Services (case manaement services, therapy, etc.)
$75 Building Renovation Fund
PETER'S WORK
We work in and through the Russian speaking churches in Russia and Ukraine. In the St Petersburg region we carry out ministry inside 9 orphanages, 2 group homes for disabled adults, and a shelter for women and their children. In Ukraine, we've supplied Ukrainian church leaders with 7 vans and minibuses and ongoing food supplies and equipment that are delivered into villages on the front lines of the war. We are also supporting three orphanages in Ukraine.
Peter's Work is a charitable organization, formed in 2005, by missionaries to Russia Sam and Yulia Naylor. This is our 5th year participating in the Alternative Christmas program.
$40 Christmas gift for a Russian or Ukrainian orphan
$60 Portable heater for a Ukrainian family
$100 Van for feeding & evacuating pensioners & the disabled ($12,000)
PILGRIM PINES
The Outdoor Ministry Team, Youth and Young Adult Ministry Team, and the events hosted at Pilgrim Pines Camp and Conference Center, ministries of the United Church of Christ, affirms persons of all ages, sexes, genders, gender expressions, sexual orientations, racial or ethnic backgrounds, socio-economic positions, intellectual, developmental, emotional, and physical abilities, or religious affiliation. We seek to provide an inclusive and safe environment for personal and spiritual growth, nurture community by building personal relationships, and encourage care and concern for all of God’s creation.
Through Pilgrim Pines you are giving so much more than a week of camp. You are giving the gift of confidence and leadership, acceptance and love, caring adults and the gift of experiencing God's love in real ways! We believe everyone needs camp, and with your help we can make that possible. This camp, in Oak Glen, has been at the center of UCC regional work in Southern California/Southern Nevada sine 1944.
$25 1 week of craft supplies for 1 camper
$100 1 day camper scholarship
$500 1 week camper scholarship
PILGRIM PLACE RESIDENT HEALTH & SUPPORT PROGRAM
Pilgrim Place is an open and welcoming retirement community; celebrating the collective spirit of residents who are dedicated to Justice, Peace and Care of the Earth. Alternate Christmas money donated to Pilgrim Place will go to the Residents Health and Support Program, helping those for whom medical expenses, or the cost of daily living, exceeds their resources.
Woven into the many rituals and practices at Pilgrim Place are themes of caring for each other, advocacy for social justice, support of local and global peace, and a passion for environmental stewardship. Intention acts of service, friendship, and activism are at the core of the Pilgrim Place community. The Resident Health and Support Program is a fund that assists residents when medical expenses or the cost of daily living exceeds their resources. The Annual Festival, held every November, and organized by residents, also raises money to support this important effort.
$15 General Fund
$25 General Fund
$50 General Fund
POMONA VALLEY HABITAT FOR HUMANITY
Your gift to Pomona Valley Habitat for Humanity helps us to continue to build or renovate homes locally for people in need! PV Habitat for Humanity is the local chapter of a non-profit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry, serving 16 local cities.
Habitat for Humanity was founded on the conviction that every man, woman, and child should have a simple, durable place to live in dignity and safety, and that decent shelter in decent communities should be a matter of conscience and action for all. To accomplish these goals, we invite people of all backgrounds, races, and religions to build houses together in partnership with families in need.
$25 Roofing materials
$50 Vanity
$100 Kitchen sink
(CLICK HERE for additional information about Habitat for Humanity.)
PROJECT SISTER FAMILY SERVICES
Project Sister Family Services is a local non-profit rape crisis agency dedicated to reducing the trauma and risk of sexual assault and child abuse. We have 24-hour hotlines to assist with crisis intervention and accompaniment services to forensic medical exams, police reportings, court proceedings, and Title IX meetings. We offer counseling to adult survivors of sexual violence, and to child victims of any type of child abuse, school based bullying, and witnesses to crimes. We also offer free community education and violence prevention workshops. All services are completely free of charge.
WITNESSING MINISTRIES OF CHRIST
Since 1984, Witnessing Ministries of Christ has worked to bring education and empowerment to Dalit children in rural India. Through the work of indigenous teachers and staff at established school centers, children living in extreme poverty have the opportunity to access a full education, from primary school to through university.
Our philosophy is to help people so they can stand on their own feet. This is the reason we educate children to make them fully capable to learn, earn their own living, and advance their families to a better life. In its 40th year, the hallmarks of the ministry are:
- A mobile Exodus Church that is active in 22 counties in the western half of Uttar Pradesh, marking a decade of being self-sustaining through offerings of the poorest people.
- Schools operate with a workforce of those who have gone out to gain college degrees and returned to serve their own people.
- Strategic placement of centers in eight counties to augment the opportunity to spread widely among impoverished people. One-fifth of all outcastes (Dalits) live in Uttar Pradesh. From the chaos of the villages, people freely discover peace and inspiration here. Students in the ministry schools come from the families of the church. Through faith and education, the students develop as a source of progress for their communities.
$25 Books for school libraries
$45 Education for a Dalit child
$50 Help buy a new School Bus
