Trying to find the perfect gift for someone who has everything can seem impossible, but the Ames Alternative Gift Market offers holiday shoppers the opportunity to donate money in the name of a friend or a relative toward a worthwhile cause.

The eighth-annual Ames Area Alternative Gift Market will be held Sunday from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. at Bethesda Lutheran Church, 1517 Northwestern Ave.

“[The alternative gift market] is a chance for people to think about needy people around the world,” said Brian Meyer, member of the Ames Area Alternative Gift Market planning committee.

Wally Niebauer, associate professor of journalism and mass communication and alternative gift market shopper, said the alternative gift market is a good way for shoppers to purchase gifts for people who are difficult to buy for.

“It’s a win-win-win situation — you feel good about it, and the people who receive it feel good about it,” Niebauer said. “It helps other people, and it is also tax deductible.”

“People will buy a gift for a relative or a friend and they will receive a simple card with an insert that is given to the recipient,” said Katy Seidel, another member of the Ames Area Alternative Gift Market planning committee. “The alternative gifts range from saving the reefs to eye surgery.”

Shoppers are encouraged to choose a gift the recipient may view as especially different or special, she said.

“Some of the most unique alternative gifts include eye surgery for someone in Africa, wheelchairs, a book and a pair of shoes to a child in Haiti and solar cookers to Africa,” she said.

Other alternative gifts available include medicines, bicycles, job training, tree seedlings, relief to orphans, shelter for the homeless and many more, Meyer said.

Shoppers will also be able to donate to local projects, such as Story County Habitat for Humanity, Emergency Residence Project, Bethesda Community Food Pantry, ACCESS and the People Place, he said.

“There is a wide range of costs for the gifts offered,” Meyer said.

Although some of the alternative gifts available at the market are offered for under $10, he said most of the gifts are priced under $100.

“All of the donated money will be spent directly on the [specified] projects,” Meyer said.

“The alternative gift market was founded back in 1980 by a woman in California,” he said. “She wanted to motivate others to learn about people in foreign countries.”

More than 250 alternative gift markets are now held across the United States, he said.

Seidel said entertainment will also be provided at the event, which is sponsored by eight Ames area churches.