ADVENT ALTERNATIVE GIFT FAIR
JUSTICE, PEACE, AND INTEGRITY OF CREATION (JPIC) ​

Our annual JPIC Advent Alternative Gift Fair ​provides an opportunity to live out your Catholic faith in the spirit of the season by supporting local and global social justice organizations through honor Christmas card financial donations or purchasing a fair-trade gift benefitting those most in need.

If you have any questions, please contact:

Ken Chiha, Director of Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC)

​Isabel Kovalik, Assistant to the Director of Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC)

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"BUILDING COMMUNITIES OF HOPE!"
21ST ANNUAL ADVENT ALTERNATIVE GIFT FAIR
December 07-08, 2024
(December 14-15: Honor Cards Only)
After All Masses - Gathering Space, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church​ 

“The foreigner who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the immigrant as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” - Leviticus 19:34 

Immaculate Conception’s 21st Annual JPIC Advent Alternative Gift Fair theme is "Building Communities of Hope!” It will be held in the gathering space after all masses the weekend of December 7-8th.

In Leviticus, God commands us to treat foreigners as if they are natives, loving the immigrant as ourselves, as we too were strangers in the land of Egypt. Once again, this central theme emerges at the heart of advent! In the Gospel of Matthew, the Holy Family also experienced this same vulnerability as foreigners, immigrants, and strangers. 

Yet, Scripture continues to remind us that in our vulnerability we also discover the fullness of our humanity through mercy and love. We can stand in solidarity with one another, “building communities of hope!”

In the spirit of the season, you have an opportunity to join your fellow parishioners in living out your Catholic faith and "embody this hope” by supporting 9 organizations through honor card donations or a fair-trade gift purchase for a loved one that will benefit those most in need.

​Our Annual JPIC Advent Alternative Gift Fair is Immaculate Conception’s largest charitable event of the year! All honor Christmas card donations and fair-trade gift purchases benefit those most in need. We hope you will join us. Merry Christmas from all of us at Immaculate Conception!

​This year our parish will be supporting: ​

1) Bull City Fair Trade

• ​Support the work of talented artisans in dozens of countries by purchasing "fair-trade" goods/products.​

2) El Futuro

• Provide bilingual and culturally responsive mental health services - including therapy, psychiatry, substance use treatment, and case management - in a welcoming environment of healing and hope, so all Latino families can access appropriate mental health services and function at their most vibrant at home, work, and school, strengthening our entire community.

3) Families Moving Forward

• Provide a stable, safe, loving environment through shelter and multi-generational, comprehensive wrap-around services for families with young children experiencing homelessness, with the aim of breaking the cycle of poverty, so these families can become self-reliant members of our Durham community. ​

4) Furniture Project of Durham

• Provide gently used, donated furniture and houseware to persons and families referred by social service agencies transitioning from homelessness to housing throughout Durham, free of charge. Those served have the means to sustain housing but lack the additional funds to purchase essential used furniture and housewares. Furniture Project is an Immaculate Conception JPIC ministry created and financially supported by our parishioners.

5) North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NATIFS)

• Addressing the economic and health crises affecting Native communities by re-establishing Native foodways. NATIFS also provides support for all components of starting and running a successful culinary business based around Native traditions and Indigenous foods.​​​

6) Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham

• Empower neighbors into healing relationships with neighbors most impacted by community violence and the criminal legal system through care for survivors, welcome for the formerly incarcerated, and restorative justice among neighbors divided by harm.

7) Triangle Land Conservancy

• Create a healthier and more vibrant Triangle region by safeguarding clean water, protecting natural habitats, supporting local farms and food, and connecting people with nature through land protection and stewardship, catalyzing community action and collaboration.

8) The Virgin de Guadalupe Fund, Immaculata School

• Provide financial support for students in great need to attend Immaculata Catholic School, especially those from immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking families. ​

9) World Central Kitchen

• Respond with the urgency of NOW by providing fresh meals in response to those suffering and displaced by humanitarian, climate, and community crises.

ADOPT US!!!

Gift card donors will receive one raffle ticket on the weekend of their donation to be eligible to win a fair-trade "World Wildlife Fund" ​soft plush version of a symbolic adopted animal, complete with a 5"x7" formal adoption certificate, and double-sided species spotlight card with photograph and facts. The donations for our adorable Artic Fox and Polar Bear AAGF mascots help global conservation efforts, save endangered wildlife, protect fragile ecosystems, and build a future where people live in harmony with nature. 

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PREVIOUS ADVENT ALTERNATIVE GIFT FAIRS

2023 20TH ANNUAL
​ADVENT ALTERNATIVE GIFT FAIR THANKYOU!

On behalf of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church’s Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) ministries, thank you for your support of our “20th Annual Advent Alternative Gift Fair!”

This year's Advent Alternative Gift Fair theme called us to reflect on Jesus’s “new commandment, that you love (AGAPĒ) one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). God’s agapē love is the model for the many ways we give as a parish with an intentional, conscious purpose to help those in need through our JPIC ministries. Giving both locally and globally in our Advent Alternative Gift Fair allows us to embody God’s agapē love in our actions for our neighbor as a mark of true discipleship.

​2023 Advent Alternative Gift Fair Brochure

We are especially grateful to this year’s organizations, our Advent Alternative Gift Fair staff member and parishioner planning committee, and adult and youth parishioners who nominated organizations and volunteered to help us with this year’s fair. 

​DONATION TOTALS

Our 2023 20th Annual Advent Alternative Gift Fair raised $13,605.50!!!

Local social justice organizations in Durham included Families Moving Forward, the Immaculate Conception's JPIC Furniture Project of Durham, Habitat for Humanity of Durham, the Immaculata School's Virgen de Guadalupe Scholarship Fund​, and LIFE Skills Foundation.
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Global solidarity and justice organizations included Bull City Fair Trade (Durham), La 72 Migrant and Refugee Shelter (Franciscan-run migrant and refugee shelter in Mexico), and Living Laudato Si’ Philippines, and World Central Kitchen (with a specific focus on those suffering/displaced due to war throughout the Holy Land).​ ​

On behalf of our Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation ministries, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, and all the local and global organizations you helped support through generous donations/agapē love, we thank you!

All donations were directly distributed to each organization.

2023 ADVENT ALTERNATIVE GIFT FAIR​SLIDESHOW

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2022 19TH ANNUAL
ADVENT ALTERNATIVE GIFT FAIR THANKYOU!

On behalf of Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC), the entire parish, and all our organizations, thank you for your support of Immaculate Conception’s “19th Annual Advent Alternative Gift Fair!”

This year’s theme, Prepare the Way of the Lord, reminded us of our Christian calling to align our lives and missions with the will of God and Christ’s teachings. By sharing your faith and commitment to the Gospel’s call to love and justice with a donation to these ministries for your family and friends you embodied the spirit of this season.

​Thanks to all our volunteers that made this event possible.

​2022 Advent Alternative Gift Fair Brochure

​DONATION TOTALS
​A RECORD-BREAKING YEAR!

Your purchases and donations set a JPIC Advent Alternative Gift Fair NEW RECORD, totaling $19,715.68!!!

Your acts of charity and justice helped us make God's love known to all those in need during this Christmas season.

​Local social justice organizations in Durham included El Futuro, Families Moving Forward, the Immaculate Conception's JPIC Furniture Project of Durham, and Urban Ministries of Durham.

Global solidarity and justice organizations Bull City Fair Trade (Durham), La 72 Migrant and Refugee Shelter (Franciscan-run migrant and refugee shelter in Mexico), and Serere Eco-Preserve (protecting biodiversity in the Amazon rainforest).

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We are truly grateful! All donations were directly distributed to each organization.

WINNER OF NAMING THE JAGUAR CONTEST

As part of the Advent Alternative Gift Fair, a girl by the name of Allison Barbara has named the jaguar toy "Tigrecito." Those who are interested in learning more about supporting the Amazon Rainforest's conservation efforts of Rosa Maria Ruiz at Serere Nature Preserve, click here. 

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© All rights reserved.
If you have questions regarding our various JPIC ministries, please contact:
Kennith M. Chiha, Director of Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC)
Immaculate Conception Catholic Church - 901-A West Chapel Hill Street, Durham, NC 27701
(919) 682-3449 Ext. 293 - [email protected]