Silver Spring, Maryland--In time for the holiday season, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is announcing the release of its 2009 Really Useful Gift Catalog, a collection of nearly one hundred gift ideas and partnering opportunities to help provide food, education, health care, small loans, advocacy, disaster relief, and long-term development to communities around the world.

Published annually, ADRA's Really Useful Gift Catalog gives readers a glimpse of the humanitarian work that ADRA is doing and encourages participation by sponsoring specific projects. The projects highlighted in the catalog are designed to make a significant impact in the lives of hundreds of thousands of people each day.

Gift ideas are collected from around the world, and range in price and scope. Just $110 will unable an AIDS orphan in Ghana to complete one full year of secondary school, while $20 will sponsor a child for two months. Also, $7 will provide clean drinking water to one villager in Bolivia, as well as lifesaving information about health and hygiene. Other gifts include cows for blind persons in Vietnam, small loans for women in rural China, irrigation systems for farmers in Mali, and kitchen sets and stoves for refugee families.

"Our Really Useful Gift Catalog is something that we are very proud of," said Julio Munoz, bureau chief for Marketing and Development for ADRA International. "It is one of the best ways for our supporters to become involved. And the best thing is that they can have the confidence to know that every penny donated will go directly to the project of their choice."

For the first time, ADRA's catalog presents special projects for supporters who are teachers, farmers, executives, gardeners, anglers, homebuilders, and chefs. Also, the introduction of a new "Kids Helping Kids" section allows children who want to send a donation to make a big impact by giving what they can afford. This year's edition includes a mini gift catalog that can be detached and shared with family and friends. These giving opportunities allow for more freedom and flexibility to select projects of interest, and provide individuals the tools to organize private fundraisers or large-scale events.

Supporters can also order gift certificates worth $10, $25, $50, and $100, or request gift cards to let a person know that a contribution was made in their name.

As a result of donations given for the Honduran schoolchildren project in the 2007 edition, 90 schoolchildren from low-income farming families in western Honduras received backpacks filled with much-needed school supplies this summer. Donations to a generator project in Tajikistan provided 25 generators for schools and hospitals, enabling them to stay open throughout the year.

ADRA is proud to consistently receive a top, four-star rating from Charity Navigators, America's largest independent evaluator of more than 5,000 charities. ADRA also meets the highly regarded and exacting standards for charitable accountability created by the Better Business Bureau.

The Really Useful Gift Catalog is available online at www.adra.org, and free copies can be ordered at 1.800.424.2372 (ADRA).

ADRA is present in 125 countries, providing community development and emergency management without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race, or ethnicity.

Additional information about ADRA can be found at www.adra.org.

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Author: Nadia McGill

Media Contact: John Torres, Senior Public Relations Manager, ADRA International 12501 Old Columbia Pike Silver Spring, MD 20904 Phone: 301.680.6357 E-mail: Media.Inquiries@adra.org