With the holiday season in full swing, it's time to start figuring out the ideal gift for the nature enthusiast on your list. Give the gift of the great outdoors by donating to local organizations in honor of your friends and family members. Here are three philanthropic gift options that will have an impact much too large to stuff in a stocking.
Read a book
Now you can support climbing by just gifting your friends - or yourself - a book of your choice. Visit the Southeastern Climber's Coalition at seclimbers.org and purchase a book off of Amazon. com by clicking the title of the book on the SCC's Swag Store page. If you choose a title that is listed specifically on the site, Amazon will donate 15 percent of the proceeds to the SCC. Don't want to read a book listed? Just click on any of the links to Amazon through the SCC page and 5 percent of anything you choose to buy will still go toward the SCC's work to preserve climbing access in the Southeast.
Plant a tree
Choose a Chattanooga neighborhood such as Southside, McCallie, Central or South Market and make a donation to Take Root to go toward planting trees in that location. For a donation of $20-$149, the person you choose to honor will receive notification of the gift, recognition on the Take Root website and a bumper sticker - not to mention the satisfaction of knowing they had a great impact on the city's urban tree population.
For more information or to donate, visit takerootchattanooga.com.
Cotton-top tamarinAdopt an animal
Not that many people can say they have a pet snow leopard or chimpanzee, but with your donation to the Chattanooga Zoo, your gift recipients can have that opportunity - without all the clean-up, vet visits and chewed-up shoes. The animals at the Zoo eat thousands of pounds of fresh fruit, vegetables and meat every year, and need specialized care to thrive. For a $50 donation, you can choose which animal to "adopt" and support on behalf of a friend and they will receive a species information sheet, personalized certificate of adoption, 8x10 color photo of their animal, a zoo logo decal and a zoo plush animal.
For more information or to adopt an animal, visit the Zoo Gift Shop or call 423-697-1319.