Several community groups are emphasizing "alternative giving" this holiday season to better follow the adage that it's better to give than to receive.
Alternative giving is the practice in which groups or individuals make a contribution to charity instead of purchasing gifts for friends and family.
Take, for example, The Red Hat Ladies of Frankfort and Bridgeport Christian Church.
The "Ladies' usually buy gifts for each other and exchange them during their Christmas luncheon, but this year, they are pooling their money and donating it to the Franklin County Women's Shelter.
Club member Donna Britton suggested the idea to the Red Hat Ladies and said the money could be better spent on someone else.
"We would rather take the $10, $20 or $30 we would spend on each other and give it to someone who would appreciate it much more," she said. "We are all hard to buy for anyway."
Britton is retired from the Cabinet for Families and Children and said she knows about the needs.
Sometimes, state employees would buy gifts for a foster family instead of each other, she said.
The Bridgeport church is also offering members the chance to buy cards to support charities like the women's shelter and L.I.F.E. House for Animals.
Megan Murray, a second-grade teacher at Second Street School, is also supporting the women's shelter through an alternative Christmas party. Students are asked to bring gifts for children who will be staying at the shelter.
They wrap the presents in class and have a sundae, Murray said. She started the tradition when she was a teacher in Michigan and continued it when she came to Second Street.
"I didn't want it to be about who gave the best gift," Murray said. "I wanted to help them see they had the ability to reach into their community."
Murray hosted a similar event last year that collected several boxes of toothbrushes, stickers and activity books for kids in crisis at the shelter.
"I wanted to help them feel comforted, and maybe give them something they could hang on to," she said.
The response from teachers and students has been overwhelmingly popular, Murray said.
Capt. Terrie McKinley, of the Salvation Army, said her sister in Hagerstown, Md., usually rings bells for the Salvation Army and "adopts" a child off the Angel Tree instead of sending her a gift.
"It does my heart good," McKinley said. "I don't need anything. Most people have everything they need. It's nice to know someone who wouldn't have anything will get something."
Jill Robinson, president of the board of directors for the Franklin County Women's Shelter, said she hopes alternative giving is a trend that will become more popular.
"A lot of people get frustrated and are struggling to find gifts for people," she said.
"Let's take the money we would have used to buy gifts, put it all together, and make a substantial contribution to charity."