How to avoid dumping unwanted gifts.

I was 17 when my heart melted seeing the forlorn look of a boy on the eve of the New Year. He must have been only about 5 years old. I saw him when I loaded a big cardboard box with gifts on the car, to be given to my college friends.

I had spent a considerable amount to buy the gifts. The look on the boy’s face pierced my heart. A big pang of guilt swept over me. Here, I was going to dump gifts on my friends which they might never need or never use but at the same time, that boy would have never received any gift in his life.

That was the last time I bought gifts but I continue to give gift cards in small and medium denominations ranging from $10 to $50. Gift cards enable the gift receivers to buy what they want. By this way, they don’t end up with 10 pen sets (just an example) that will surely find their way to the garage. Invariably, people don’t have heart to give away the unwanted gifts to the needy people.

Why don’t you think of buying a few Subway gift cards and give them to street urchins for this Christmas? They will get a meal of their life.

There is also the TGI Friday’s gift card. They have about 500 restaurants spread over the entire nation. Each gift card can be personalized with a custom message and design.

To me, food to the needy is the most valuable gift in the world.