This year's favourite gift...

The tag on the neck of the bottle read: " A pessimist sees a glass of water as being half empty; an optimist see the same glass as half full. But a giving person sees the water and starts looking for someone who might be thirsty."

The attached card showed a boy, in an obvious desert landscape, pumping water from a well while a robed, hijab wearing woman watches.

Inside the card was a note telling me, "884 million people lack access to safe water supplies. More than three-and-a-half million people die each year from water-related diseases. 98 percent of water-related deaths occur in the developing world."

The note reminded me that I was very lucky. I was born in a land where clean water was available at a turn of a tap. Or, for about a dollar a bottle, clean water is also available at the corner store.

For the price of about 50 bottles of  water, my daughter is helping to give a family of five access to a new water system providing a safe, reliable supply of fresh water to the family year-round.

She did this in my name, wishing me a Merry Christmas.

. . . and it was.
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After completing her research, my daughter decided to use Plan Canada for her ethical giving. Food, water, shelter and eduction can all be found on the Plan Canada gift shelf. The plan is a global movement for change, mobilizing millions of people around the earth.

(A mango tree can be planted in a school yard for just $12 and a young girl can be given a scholarship for a donation of $300.)

Plan Canada likes to say, "Join us and plan to change the world."