Give a Gift That Gives Back

Trying to find that perfect present for someone in your life?

When you are thinking of what to buy people on your gift list, it's important to remember the true meaning of the holidays. And in that spirit, on "The Early Show" Wednesday, Amy Goodman, senior editor of All You magazine, shared some gifts for everyone on your list that give back to the greater good.

Special Section: Holiday Gift Guide

FOR THE HOSTESS:
A beautiful gift for any hostess, it's a votive glass blown candle holder from Pottery Barn. It's filled with paper white scented candle wax, and fits any décor. Fifty percent of the proceeds from each of these candles goes directly to the St. Jude's Research Hospital. They support research and treatment for pediatric cancer and other catastrophic childhood diseases.

Available at Pottery Barn at http://www.potterybarn.com/products/st-jude-candlepot-2010/?pkey=cgifts-give-back, $29.00.

St. Jude's
Ranked the No. 1 pediatric cancer hospital by Parents magazine and the No. 1 children's cancer hospital by U.S. News & World Report, St. Jude is the first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital opened on February 4, 1962 and was founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas. Its mission is to find cures for children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases through research and treatment. St. Jude has treated children from all 50 states and from around the world.

On average, 5,700 active patients visit the hospital each year, most of whom are treated on an outpatient basis. St. Jude has 78 inpatient beds and treats upwards of 260 patients each day.

St. Jude is the first and only pediatric cancer center to be designated as a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute.

St. Jude is the first institution established for the sole purpose of conducting basic and clinical research and treatment into catastrophic childhood diseases, mainly cancer.

Research findings at St. Jude are shared freely with doctors and scientists all over the world.

St. Jude also enjoys a worldwide reputation as a teaching facility. The medical and scientific staff published more than 600 articles in academic journals in 2008, more than any other pediatric cancer research center in the United States. This is an average of a St. Jude paper being published every 17 hours.

St. Jude is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance. No child is ever denied treatment because of the family's inability to pay.
In 2010, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital was ranked the most trusted charity in the nation in a public survey conducted by Harris Interactive, a highly respected international polling and research firm.

FOR HIM:
Macy's has a whole line of fabulous imported silk men's ties in variety of colors and styles. Ours is a stylish polka dot tie (again it comes in black, blue or silver) that can be worn casually or formally. Let's face it: we all love to give men ties, so why not give a tie that means something? Part of the price of purchase for every tie goes to Susan G. Komen, an organization dedicated to saving lives and ending breast cancer forever by empowering people, ensuring quality care for all and energizing science to find the cures.

Available at Macy's at http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=338250&CategoryID=22051&cm_mmc=bazaarvoice-_-RLP-_-338250-_-productname_link, $20

Susan G. Komen
Since 1982, Komen for the Cure has played a critical role in every major advance in the fight against breast cancer - transforming how the world talks about and treats this disease and helping to turn millions of breast cancer patients into breast cancer survivors. We are proud of our contribution to some real victories:

• More early detection - nearly 75 percent of women over 40 years old now receive regular mammograms, the single most effective tool for detecting breast cancer early (in 1982, less than 30 percent received a clinical exam).

• More hope - the five-year survival rate for breast cancer, when caught early before it spreads beyond the breast, is now 98 percent (compared to 74 percent in 1982).

• More research - the federal government now devotes more than $900 million each year to breast cancer research, treatment and prevention (compared to $30 million in 1982).

• More survivors - America's 2.5 million breast cancers survivors, the largest group of cancer survivors in the U.S., are a living testament to the power of society and science to save lives.

FOR THE SELF-PAMPERER:
Jeff Koons has designed a limited edition packaging to some of the favorite Kiehl's products, including their popular Crème De Corps (a skin nurturing hydration system), and whipped body butters. This is a great gift, because all 100 percent of the money spent on purchases goes to the The Koons Family Institute, which is an initiative with the Initiative of the International Center for Missing and exploited children.

Available at Kiehl's at http://www.kiehls.com/null/holiday_creme_de_corps,default,sc.html.
Body Butter-$35
Crème de Cops Lotion $45

Center for Missing and Exploited Children
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children was borne in a time of tragedy. In 1979, 6-year-old Etan Patz disappeared from a New York street corner on this way to school and was never seen again. Twenty-nine children were abducted and murdered in Atlanta, Georgia. And in 1981, 6-year-old Adam Walsh was abducted from a Florida shopping mall and found brutally murdered. There were others.

In 1984, police could enter information about stolen cars, stolen guns, and even stolen horses into the FBI's national crime computer, but not stolen children. That is not longer the case. More missing children come home safely today and more is being done today to protect children than any time in the nation's history.

In 1984, the U.S. Congress passed the Missing Children's Assistance Act that established a National Resource Center and Clearinghouse on Missing and Exploited Children. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children(NCMEC) was designated to fulfill this role.

On June 13, 1984, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children was opened by President Ronald Reagan in a White House Ceremony. The national 24-hour toll-free missing children's hotline 1-800-THE-LOST 1-800-THE-LOST opened as well.

25 Years of Progress
In June of 2009, NCMEC observed its 25th year in operation and a quarter century of progress on behalf of children. Twenty-five years later NCMEC has become the leading nonprofit organization in the U.S. working with law enforcement to address the problems of missing and sexually exploited children. Today the work of the organization includes 20 different Congressional mandates.

Today, law enforcement is better trained, better prepared and responds more swiftly and effectively than ever before. There is better law and better technology. Parents are more alert and aware. Yet there are still thousands of children who do not make it home each year, and more who fall victim to sexual exploitation.

An estimated 800,000 children are reported missing each year -- more than 2,000 children every day. An estimated one in five girls and one in 10 boys will be sexually victimized before age 18. Yet, only one in three will tell anyone.

FOR THE PET LOVER:
Pet lover's gift bundle (large dog): A gift basket full of treats, bones and toys for your favorite pooch! Bundles vary by type and size of animal (cat or dog). Ten percent of supply items and $1 for every medication item goes to help the shelter organization of your choice to help homeless pets. Upon checkout, you will be prompted to pick a pet charity. Over 1,500 shelters participate in the Petango Program, so you are sure to find one that you love and would like to give to.

Available at The Petango Store at https://store.petango.com/The-Petango-Dog-Lover-Gift-Bundle-for-Large-Dogs-P7973.aspx, $48.

FOR THE HEALTH/SPORTS NUT
Everyone needs a water bottle when they are working out. But did you ever take a moment to think about how few people have access to clean water? They call these water bottles "hope in a bottle." Nearly a billion people around the world lack access to clean water and some two million -- many of them children -- die each year from water-borne diseases. Actor Matt Damon co-founded Water.org to help solve the dire problem. Now you can purchase a special edition water bottle for the holidays in environmentally-friendly BPA-free plastic ($18.99) or insulated stainless steel ($24.99). One hundred percent of the profits go directly to Water.org -- one of the most innovative and financially-efficient charities around.

Available at Water.org at http://www.water.org/holidays.
BPA-free plastic ($19)
Stainless Steel ($25)

Water.org
We envision the day when everyone in the world can take a safe drink of water. It is easy to take for granted ready access to a safe supply of drinking water. Yet nearly one billion people lack this most basic commodity. Creating accessible, safe water supplies in developing countries liberates people to live healthier, fuller, more productive lives.

Develop high quality, sustainable water projects. We use our expertise to foster high-quality, sustainable, community-level water supply projects. We promote innovative solutions that enable communities to take a leading role in solving their own water supply problems.

Enable donors to invest wisely. We exist to create a global awareness of the water supply crisis and to help people respond. We carefully invest donors' funds in only the highest quality projects through locally-based water development organizations. We hold ourselves accountable to donors and to people who benefit from the projects they support.

Water
• 884 million people lack access to safe water supplies; approximately one in eight people.
• 3.575 million people die each year from water-related disease.
• The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.
• An American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than a typical person in a developing country uses in a whole day.

FOR THE EDUCATOR/BOOK NUT
You can give the gift of an e-reader in a developing nation. Just as mobile phones have leapfrogged landlines in developing countries, e-readers can deliver books instantly and for far less: many e-books are less than one-third the price of a printed book, saving trees and reaching more minds. They have a great holiday gifting program. For $5 you can give an e-book to a child. For $200 you can give them an e-reader, and for the truly committed you can sponsor a whole class of e-readers for $5,000.
Available at www.worldreader.org.
$5 for e-book
$200 for an e-reader
$5000 to sponsor a class

Worldreader:
Worldreader.org is a market-oriented, not-for-profit organization whose aim is to put a library of books within reach of every family on the planet, using electronic book technology. We believe that just as mobile phones have leapfrogged landlines across much of the developing world, e-readers will become the easiest, least expensive, and most reliable way to deliver books to underserved areas and underprivileged peoples.

Once e-readers are in place, schools and families have near-immediate access to hundreds of thousands of books, from new textbooks to current best-sellers. The cost of shipping these books is nearly zero, even to very remote areas.

Our first focus is on the developing world, where access to books is the most limited, and where we can have the greatest near-term impact. Over time, we hope to expand our work throughout the world.

FOR THE PERSON THAT HAS EVERYTHING:
If you want to give a gift to the person who has it all, but you can't figure out what they would want to give to, try GlobalGiving.org. You can choose from organizations that support the global community, childhood vaccinations, environmental action or animal protection groups.

Available at www.globalgiving.org, Give What You Can.

GlobalGiving:
Global Giving is changing the way people give, offering donors a transparent, high-impact giving experience. You choose where you want your money to go, and we get it there, quickly and efficiently.

GlobalGiving enables you to fund the smaller charities, that often get overlooked. We give access to new sources of funds to creative ideas and projects that might never be funded through traditional structures and development and philanthropy approaches.

We have a tested due diligence process, and make sure donors get feedback about how their contributions have been put to work and the results achieved - with satisfaction guaranteed through the GlobalGiving Guarantee.