Looking for the perfect gift this holiday season? Kirkland Interfaith Network (KIN) invites you to its annual Alternative Gift Fair from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 10 and from 12-2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11 at Holy Spirit Lutheran Church, 10021 NE 124th St., Kirkland. (Note: we’re at a new location this year).

The KIN Alternative Gift Fair is a holiday fair where each gift you buy provides a better life for someone who needs it, here or abroad. It’s a fair where you can do some holiday shopping and feel good about doing it. It’s a holiday fair whose focus is the love of God at work in the world.

At the fair, you will find tables selling “alternative” gifts. An alternative gift is a donation made to an organization in honor of a person to whom you might normally give a material gift. An alternative gift might be a flock of chicks for a family in Bolivia, a window for a unit of affordable housing, or a blanket to warm a refugee in a camp.

For each item you purchase, you receive a gift card with an insert describing your gift, which you can give to the person you are honoring in this way. At the KIN Fair you will find a variety of local, national and international organizations working to provide short term relief for those in need and long term development assistance to address the underlying causes of hunger and poverty.

You’ll be surprised how many people will be excited and pleased by this idea. After all, most of us have more than we really need. Because of the wide variety of alternative gifts at the KIN Fair, you can carefully select the one that’s just right for each person on your list, as you would with a material gift. In addition, at the KIN Alternative Gift Fair, you will also find a large selection of fair-trade items imported from the developing world. And you will know that all the items you purchase benefit someone who needs a helping hand.

For more information about KIN and to donate online, visit www.kirklandinterfaith.net.