THE 2026 IN-PERSON ALTERNATIVE CHRISTMAS FAIR WILL TAKE PLACE ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 6
Alternative Christmas is a church-sponsored giving event to encourage donations to community organizations in lieu of traditional tangible gifts. Gifts can be made on behalf of your loved ones. All of the participating organizations were nominated by church members.
You can meet the organizations in-person before church starting at 9:30 am, or after church at 11 am on Sunday December 6, 2026!
Take your time looking through the incredible organizations on this page, then join us in early December to meet representatives from the organizations and purchase your Alternative Christmas gifts!
(If you can't join us in-person, you can still participate anytime in December. Please read the "At-Home Instructions" below!)
2026 AT-HOME INSTRUCTIONS WILL BE UPDATED SOON:
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 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:
The full 2026 Alternative Christmas Shopping List is coming soon.
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!
BEYOND BORDERS
Beyond Borders supports local communities in Haiti to break cycles of exploitation, violence, and extreme poverty. Led by local activists and survivors, they identify children trapped in child slavery and safely reunite them with their families, and ensure they have local access to quality education. Its community-wide Rethinking Power program trains members to challenge harmful norms, cutting intimate partner violence in half. Additionally, a 24-month Graduation Program provides comprehensive coaching in literacy, health, nutrition, livestock care, and gardening. Together, these initiatives equip families with the skills and assets needed to overcome poverty and hunger, and achieve lasting self-sufficiency.
$ 25 Covers the cost for one parent, teacher, or neighbor to participate in a 6 month children's rights training program—sparking a community movement to protect children and nurture their wellbeing.
$75 Provides seeds, tools, and hands-on training for one family to grow nutritious food at home. Parents learn to grow kitchen gardens—providing their families with regular access to fresh produce and the extra income they need to keep their children healthy, at home, and in school.
$120 Supports one girl’s participation in a local Girls' Club for a full year. Girls ages 10-19 build confidence, explore their power, and gain the skills to stay in school, make informed choices, shape their own futures, and become leaders in their communities.
CHURCH WORLD SERVICE (CWS)
Church World Service is a faith-based organization transforming communities worldwide through just and sustainable responses to hunger, poverty, displacement, and disaster. Since 1946, CWS has provided disaster relief, refugee assistance, and opportunities that empower individuals and communities to thrive. But this year, recent administration policies have severely limited our ability to serve, making your gift more critical than ever. CWS Orange County office focuses on gap services for refuges, your support will be crucial to helping families rebuild their lives with dignity and keep hope alive.
$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)
CLASP is a not-for-profit organization that for 21 years has provided quality after-school homework help to academically struggling elementary students referred by the Claremont Unified School District. This service is offered free of charge to families. Over 100 tutors volunteer their time to provide one-on-one assistance to approximately 80 students, and an all-volunteer board of directors raises the funds necessary to run the program. Your donation helps to pay for a small staff to run three tutoring sites, a healthy snack, and monthly enrichment activities.
$20 A new book for one child
$50 A year of monthly enrichment activities for one child
$250 One month of the tutoring program cost for one child
CLAREMONT COMMUNITY SCHOOL OF MUSIC (CCSM)
Claremont Community School of Music (CCSM) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to making quality music education accessible to students of all ages and backgrounds. Through private lessons, group classes, and youth orchestras, we nurture a lifelong love of music. Donations support need-based scholarships, instrument loans, and educational materials, helping ensure that financial circumstances never prevent a student from experiencing the joy of making music.
$25 Instruction books
$75 Instrument/Equipment rental & repair
$150 Music Lesson Scholarships
CLAREMONT MEALS ON WHEELS
Our Mission: 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 through Friday throughout the year, including all holidays. Meals are prepared by the culinary staff of the Mt. San Antonio Gardens retirement facility.
$3 Holiday subsidized meal
$14 1 week of subsidized meals
$55 1 month of subsidized meals
CLAREMONT UCC EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER
$25 Day of childcare
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
*New organization for 2026*
Global Refuge
Global Refuge is a faith-based international nonprofit serving people seeking safety from around the globe. As a witness to God's love for all people, we stand with and advocate for immigrants and refugees, transforming communities through ministries of service and justice. Our programs have supported more than 850,000 people since our founding in 1937, encouraging and enabling resettlement, community integration, economic empowerment, and family unification. Our supporters help bring our mission to life. Donations fund everything from emergency food assistance for a refugee family to legal and career services.
$95 Immigration Legal Consultation for immigrant or refugee
*New organization for 2026*
Hope Mountain Foundation
Hope Mountain Foundation is a non-profit organization established to provide vision and funding for the development and operation of a residential care facility located in Cebu, Philippines known as Hope Mountain Center. Hope Mountain Center is a safe refuge of hope, healing, and restoration for children (both boys and girls) rescued from on-line sexual abuse and exploitation. Hope Mountain Center also serves children that are victim-survivors of other forms of abuse including rape and sexual molestation. The mission of Hope Mountain Center is to transform the lives of children who are victim-survivors of sexual abuse and exploitation; to empower each child to move from helpless victim to thriving survivor.
$95 transportation and staff
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
$25 Provides a family of Four with Food for approximately 5 days
$50 Purchase 250lbs of Food from the LA Regional Food Bank
$100 Provides One Night of Shelter and Services for an Unhoused Family
JUSTICE FOR IMMIGRANTS SEEKING ASYLUM (JISA)
JISA, Justice for Immigrants Seeking Assistance, is a CUCCC mission partner dedicated to assisting our immigrant sisters and brothers at a time when many face a mountain of difficulties and fear. Founded in 2018 by residents of Claremont, many at Pilgrim Place, as well as people from surrounding communities and academic institutions, JISA has helped hundreds of immigrants through visits to the local ICE detention center at Adelanto, paying for legal representation, assisting immigrants trying to reunite with friends and family members, car repairs, rent, and by meeting many other requests. Your donations are used to continue this vital work of love and justice for immigrants.
$20 for a deposit into an immigrant commissary account at Adelanto - to buy food, water, and personal hygiene supplies
$50 for help with basic food and health supplies
$100 to help with legal fees
MARERA COMMUNITY SELF-HELP PROJECT (MCSHP) - KENYA
Marera Community Self-help Project is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that is registered in California, and our projects are located in a rural village in Western Kenya. Our mission is in fighting the effects of HIV/AIDS and poverty in Marera, Kisumu, Kenya, using a holistic approach. Our projects in the past include building a Church, construction of a Water borehole, building a School, and buying a School Van to safely transport our students. Currently, we are raising funds to build a rental apartment for six families in Marera. The rental income will provide the pastor’s salary, Education scholarships for orphans, pay teachers salaries and go towards other mission work within the Marera community.
$10 Daily salary of 1 construction worker
$20 3 bags of cement
$50 T9 roofing iron sheets
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.
Your generous support will allow Newcomers Access Center (NAC) to continue to give refugees and immigrants access to what they need to integrate into their new communities. We remain steadfast to our mission to aid families on their road to independence. NAC provides shelter, food, transportation, clothing, backpacks, driving lessons, baby items, gift cards, employment help, resume writing, legal assistance, computers and bikes along with English lessons and more. Come visit. CUCC, Suite B5.
$25 Gift cards (food, diapers, personal items)
$40 Baby Needs (diapers, strollers, car seats)
$100 Rent Supplements
PETER'S WORK
The children and the elderly are the most vulnerable in Russia and Ukraine. This was true before the war but is even more so now. 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 are supporting three orphanages and three shelters for refugees. We are feeding more than 1,000 seniors, children and refugees weekly. We've supplied Ukrainian churches with 7 vans and minibuses and ongoing food supplies and equipment that are delivered into villages on the front lines of the war.
Peter's Work is a charitable organization, formed in 2005, by missionaries to Russia Sam and Yulia Naylor. This is our 6th year participating in the Alternative Christmas program.
$45 Christmas gift for a Russian or Ukrainian orphan
$160 Buys 1 ton of potatoes (2,660 potatoes) for Ukrainian refugess and families at risk
$100 Van for feeding & evacuating pensioners & the disabled ($12,000)
PILGRIM PINES
Pilgrim Pines Camp, a ministry of the UCC, is an inclusive and safe environment which hosts everything from summer camp to adult retreats. Your donation will be used to support campers who do not have the financial ability to attend camp.
Pilgrim Pines has been serving youth, families, congregations, and visitors for over 80 years, hosting the first summer camp in 1944. Our camps mission of affirming 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 while seeking to provide an inclusive and safe environment for personal and spiritual growth; nurture community by building personal relationships and encouraging care and concern for all of God’s creation is unique in design and providing an extravagant welcome to all.
$25 art and educational supplies
$125 1 day camper scholarship
$250 2 day camper scholarship
PILGRIM PLACE RESIDENT HEALTH & SUPPORT PROGRAM
With a mission to foster a vibrant and inclusive senior community committed to justice, peace, and care of the earth, Pilgrim Place is a continuing care retirement community for those who have dedicated their lives to service and justice. Home to about 350 residents, Pilgrim Place provides a full range of senior care (independent living, assisted living, and skilled nursing) to support residents as their needs evolve. Residents want to put their time and work in service to the greater community (especially in ways that demonstrate their shared values), volunteering and serving hundreds of non-profit organizations in Claremont and beyond.
Gifts to the Resident Health and Support Program (RHSP) ensure that all residents can continue their lives—which have been dedicated to justice, peace, and care for the earth—at Pilgrim Place with dignity and care. While residents plan and use their means wisely, they may outlive their assets or suffer a catastrophic health event that exhausts their resources.
$25 Rental Assistance General Fund
$50 Rental Assistance General Fund
$100 Rental Assistance 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
PROJECT SISTER FAMILY SERVICES
Project Sister Family Services has supported survivors of sexual assault and child abuse in eastern Los Angeles County and the West End of San Bernardino County since 1972. We provide a 24-hour crisis hotline, hospital and court accompaniment, counseling, and prevention education for children, families, and communities across 24 cities. Your gift goes directly toward helping survivors heal and keeping children safe, with services offered 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
