Another GREAT idea for your Christmas cards

A dear friend of mine sent me an e-mail in response to the idea i posted about Christmas cards to share what her family does with their Christmas cards. They send them to a ministry where the cards are taken to Hondorus to support a small greeting card business run by two Christian women.
If you're interested in doing this too just send the front of the greeting card (you can get older kids involved in cutting them) to this address:

Society Of the Good Shepherd

PO Box 122

Amberson, PA 17210

For more information on this work visit their web site.
Blessings!c

Excerpted from "The Least of These My Brethern" which is Society of the Good Shepherd's monthly newsletter. This one dated Apr. 2005:A number of people of people have asked us over the past year whether they should still send us used greeting cards for Honduras. Definitely. In fact, now we have two sisters in Honduras who are making greeting cards to sell.

The latest one to start into this business is Norma Ramos. This past year, the Society of the Good Shepherd made a small loan to Norma, enabling her to purchase colored paper, special scissors, glue, card stock, patterns, and other items to make greeting cards. She makes some of the cards totally from scratch, using designs cut out of the colored paper. On other cards, she cuts the picture off of a used greeting card and then glues it on the front cover of the card she is making. For either type of card, Norma places a Scripture verse or some other Christian message on the inside. Norma also hand makes the envelopes for each of her cards.

There would probably be little market in the United States for such homemade cards, but they are quite popular in Honduras. In fact, Norma is able to sell them for about the same price as commercially made cards. Rather than competing with Nelly Lainez (the other Christian sister who is making greeting cards), the two of them cooperate in their businesses so that they sell to differing stores. In fact, Nelly let Norma use the computer that Nelly purchased with a Society loan. Both women use the computer to do the lettering for their cards.

Norma said that the largest demand is for Christmas and birthday cards. She sells her cards in various local stores, as well as at nearby town named Otoro. Otoro is about half the size of Siguatepeque, but people from a lot of surrounding villages shop there. The price for coffee beans has firmed up quite a bit, and this has helped all Honduran business--including the card business.