Ex-Teacher Captures Spirit of Holidays With Gifts of Life : Charities: Her organization provides food, shelter, clothing and school supplies to the needy in the United States and other countries.

Christmas, 1980, was nearing, and the children at Pasadena Presbyterian Church had long lists of “I wants.”

Some pined for Merlin, a flashy electronic sound-and-light game. Some beseeched their parents for Luke Skywalker’s Snow Speeder, and others coveted Strawberry Shortcake dolls.

Somehow, the true spirit of the holidays had been lost on the lot of them, thought Harriet C. Prichard, who had taken a leave of absence from teaching for the Los Angeles Unified School District to become the church’s director of children’s ministries. “I wanted to teach them that Christmas isn’t about materialism,” Prichard said.

So the Sierra Madre resident established a program for families to purchase gifts to help the needy in the United States and other countries.

During the first year, the children collected $8,000 at an open market to purchase cows, bees, goats and chickens for Third World farmers. They also peddled gifts of rice for Vietnamese families and school supplies for children in Bangladesh.

“One lady actually asked when her chickens were going to come,” Prichard said, her easy smile giving way to a laugh. “It took some time to educate people to the concept that you don’t go home with anything for yourself. Instead, you give life-giving gifts that change people’s lives.”

The idea took off. By the second year, five Pasadena churches held their own markets. The third year, 13 churches did the same.

As of last year, 170 markets in 26 states sold everything from bottles of antibiotics for people in the Sudan to a month’s worth of food, shelter and clothing for a child in Mexico to materials used to repair a house in Appalachia.

Alternative Gift Markets raised about $500,000 for people in the United States and abroad in 1990.

The markets have “blossomed into a worldwide network,” said Dean Thompson, a pastor at Pasadena Presbyterian.

He attributes the success of the idea to the tenacity and imagination of Prichard, 63, who threw herself into its development without reservation.

“When Harriet started, no one was doing anything like this. Now, lots of churches have picked up on the idea. She’s a person of vision,” he said.

The gifts, which range in price from $1.25 to $500, are funneled directly to people in need through 16 charitable organizations around the world, such as Church World Service and Heifer Project International.

The organizations are required to provide documentation to Alternative Markets that they spent the entire amount of each gift on the goods specified by the buyer.

The person in whose name the gift had been purchased receives an engraved card noting that the good deed has been done.

In the San Gabriel Valley, about 13 markets are held, mostly at local churches during November and December.

The alternative gift market idea grew so quickly that, in 1986, Prichard took early retirement from her post as a music teacher in South-Central Los Angeles to work on the project full time.

She created Alternative Gift Markets Inc., a nonprofit organization with a board of directors and offices in Sierra Madre and Lucerne Valley. She also began publishing a catalogue so that people could buy alternative gifts throughout the year by mail or by phone.

“It wasn’t something I planned,” Prichard said. “People responded in a way we never imagined. People wanted to give authentic gifts. It meant something.”

For Prichard, it often means putting in a full workweek, even though she considers herself retired.

“She’s just a dynamo,” said Sharon Rogers, who has known Prichard for 12 years. “She single-handedly turned the gift market into what it is today.”

Prichard, who directed education programs for the church for 15 years and taught in public schools for 17 years, said running the program is a natural extension of her life’s work.

“At one time it was about educating children in the classroom,” she said. “Now it is about global education.”

For example, she loves to teach the lesson that someone’s purchase of 10 chickens for $12.50 can double a widow’s income in Sri Lanka.

“When you explain to people what they can do with a small amount of money, they get excited,” Prichard said.

“One of the reasons we have been so successful is that these are specific gifts that go to specific places. People aren’t just sending a check to some anonymous charitable organization.”

Indeed, 100% of the money raised to purchase gifts goes directly to their designated use. Money for operating expenses--about $116,000 last year--comes from individual donations and from contributions by the nonprofit groups whose projects are supported by Alternative Gift Markets.

Recently, Prichard traveled to Haiti to make sure that Alternative Gift Markets’ money was being used in the way it was intended. The organization had sent $75,000 over three years to help build schools and feed school-age children in the impoverished country.

“They have 2,000 pupils in 12 schools learning to read,” said Prichard, her blue eyes brightening behind large, round glasses. “In a country where malnutrition is severe, they give the children two meals a day. Then those children go home and teach their parents everything they know. That is really stretching every dollar.”

Prichard, a single woman who travels between her Lucerne Valley and Sierra Madre homes with her two dogs, said doing charitable work has been among the most fulfilling of her pursuits in life.

“I get a lot of joy from this,” Prichard added. “It’s a tremendous gift to myself.”

For a free catalogue, call (800) 842-2243 or write Alternative Gift Markets Inc., 9656 Palomar Trail, Lucerne Valley, Calif., 92356.

Local Alternative Holiday Gift Markets

* St. Luke’s of the Mountains 2563 Foothill Blvd., La Crescenta Sundays, Nov. 3 and 10, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

* Church of the Transfiguration 1881 S. 1st Ave., Arcadia Sunday, Nov. 17, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

* First United Methodist Church 9 N. Almansor St., Alhambra Sunday, Nov. 24, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

* Our Lady of the Assumption 435 Berkeley Ave., Claremont Sunday, Nov. 24, 8 a.m. to noon.

* Pasadena Presbyterian Church 54 N. Oakland Ave., Pasadena Sunday, Nov. 24, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

* St. James Presbyterian Church 200 W. Las Tunas Drive, San Gabriel Sunday, Nov. 24, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

* Arcadia Presbyterian Church 121 Alice St., Arcadia Sunday, Dec. 1, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

* La Canada Presbyterian Church 626 Foothill Blvd., La Canada Sundays from Nov. 24 through Dec. 15, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. * Neighborhood Church 301 N. Orange Grove Blvd., Pasadena Sunday, Dec. 1, 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m.

* St. Mark’s Parish 1014 E. Altadena Drive, Altadena Sunday, Dec. 1, 9 a.m. to noon.

* St. Edmond’s Episcopal Church 1175 S. San Gabriel Blvd., San Marino Sunday, Dec. 1, 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; Monday, Dec. 2 and Tuesday, Dec. 3, 9 to 11 a.m.

* All Saints Episcopal Church 132 N. Euclid Ave., Pasadena Sunday, Dec. 8, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

* First Presbyterian Church 310 N. 2nd Ave., Covina Sunday, Dec. 8, 6 to 8 p.m.