Vendors gave shoppers an alternative to purchasing typical gifts Saturday, Nov. 8 while supporting groups in need.

At the second annual Mattapoisett Friends Meeting Alternative Gift Fair local vendors were invited to raise awareness and money for their causes.

Meeting member Alan Harris discovered the idea at a New Hampshire church. Harris and Deena Kinsky collaborated to put the fair together.

Ten vendors participated in the event. The Friends Meeting raised money not by charging the vendors, but by sponsoring a table of its own. At the table, shoppers could purchase cards made by member Charlotte Purrington. Proceeds will help fund meeting house renovations.

The church’s Sunday school raised money to adopt a Kenyan baby elephant through the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust by selling baked goods and handmade gift items.

Other vendors included Sanga Sangai who sold bracelets to support a Nepalese man’s cause. An impoverished street child, Rajesh Shahi came to America to have surgery to correct a severe curve in his back.

Vendor Johanna Duponte-Williams hosted Shahi for the year he was in America. The American kindness Shahi felt inspired him to help other low caste street children in Nepal by raising money to educate and feed them.

Alan Harris manned the Equal Exchange fair trade coffee station. Equal Exchange sets the price for coffee farmers in developing countries ensuring that, “even when the market price goes down, farmers still earn a livable wage,” Harris explained.

Dora Rosenfield, another Friends Meeting member, promoted The Widows Friend at her table. The organization teaches Bangladeshi widows about embroidery, beading with local materials and the business of selling their goods to support themselves and their children.

SouthCoast Energy Challenge was there to raise awareness about what “each individual can do to reduce energy usage in the South Coast to help our planet,” a representative said.

Kinsky was proud of the increased attendance in the event’s second year. She said it will be held again next year.