Families cut costly holiday gifts to donate to charities

Omar Aqeel is no 12-year-old spendthrift. Despite his cushioned upbringing in affluent Pebble Beach, Calif., he washes cars and delivers newspapers to earn his own money. He saves the fruits of his youthful entrepreneurship.

One night this month he offered to donate his cash to an orphanage in Kabul, Afghanistan.

"He said, 'Mom, would $400 help at all for those kids?' That happens to be how much he had in his savings account," his mother, Susan, recalled.

She was so impressed by the gesture that she decided to rethink the family's usual Christmas celebration. She made plans to donate all that the family usually spends on Christmas activities -- $3,000 to $4,000 -- to charity.

"We just decided. It made us feel really good," said Susan Aqeel, a widow. "So many people died. I thought this is what it takes to happen. All over the world this kind of stuff happens, but it happened here. It was a real eye-opener."

The Aqeels are not alone.

Soul-searching after the Sept. 11 attacks has many families re-evaluating the season. Many seek ways to restore an emphasis on family and close friends and are trying to downsize their celebrations by stripping away commercial influences. By spending less, they're also hoping to be able to give more to charities.

Laura Monti, a graduate student in biology from Arlington, Va., has asked relatives and friends to donate money to the Nature Conservancy in her name, rather than buy her a gift.

"I am concerned that the events of Sept. 11 and a weak economy are leading to reductions in donations to many worthy charities," she said. "I have come to realize more bath soaps, shirts and earrings don't do a thing to make me content."

More than six in 10 Americans say they want to make this holiday more meaningful than in past years.