High-end fashion designer Alexandra Taylor has released an impressive collection of scarves and ties that help bring awareness and much-needed funding to an important cause: ending the scourge of malaria in Africa.

Here in the United States, we often forgot how blessed we are. We have scientists working on mosquito eradication programs in our cities. We have the top medical care. When an “epidemic” like the West Nile Virus hits, panic ensues on every news broadcast on all the 24-hour news stations and nightly news broadcasts. And yet despite all that, your chances of actually contracting the virus is 1 in 452,488.

It’s quite a different story in Africa. Every 45 seconds, a child dies from a mosquito bite. Every 45 seconds. The disease that’s carried is malaria. It’s a terrible disease characterized by high fevers, shaking chills, flu-like symptoms, and anemia. These are real children, with real friends and real mothers and fathers who love them. And yet a tiny mosquito can wreak such havoc on families.

The most cost-effective way of preventing malaria is an incredible simple one. Just $10 will pay for a net to be placed over the bed of sleeping children. The net is treated with a long-lasting insecticide which is safe for the child but which repels the mosquitoes, which feed at night, from biting them while they sleep.

The scarves themselves are what you’d expect from a high end fashion designer. They’re made of a fine silk mesh and are extremely lightweight and stylish yet still functional. They’re 100% silk, and 100% made in the USA. Here are two of the designs.

The designs are all inspired by African colors and designs. This design in particular is a work of art that’s sheer and see-through with a design that evokes the life-saving mosquito nets themselves.

With the purchase of every scarf, Alexandra Taylor will donate $10 to Nothing But Nets to fund the creation and delivery of mosquito nets.

Macy’s Heart of Haiti Collection has a unique set of handcrafted vases from Haiti, including the Heart of Haiti Charlotte 1 Vase pictured here.

If you bought your Bieber fever flowers (and if you didn’t, what are you waiting for?? ), this vase makes a great alternative to the glass vase that 1-800-Flowers gives you, and helps a great cause to boot!

Since the first music CD to help Haiti was released a few weeks after the earthquake, a whole bunch of other artists have come together to produce their own albums to help Haiti. There’s one to suit just about every musical taste, and the proceeds are still going to help. Here are some of the more popular ones:

 A Symphony Of Hope: The Haiti Project (Classical)

  Many Hands: Family Music for Haiti (Family)

Are You Listening (Gospel)

Everybody Hurts (UK)
We Will Lift You Up (FOR Haiti Relief) (Inspirational)

This Birds in a Breadfruit Tree Jewelry Hanger from the Macy’s Heart of Haiti collection is a great way to support artisans of Haiti while displaying all your hanging jewelry in a beautiful and practical way.

Made from recycled steel, this piece has a beautiful design of graceful birds in a breadfruit tree, a tree widely grown and used in Haiti. Your jewelry can serve as “fruit” for the tree; the more you hang the more beautiful it becomes. And of course, your purchase of this item will help the artisans who made it make a living to help rebuild their communities and their country.

Okay, who doesn’t have Bieber Fever these days? Wish the Justin Bieber fan in your life a Happy Valentine’s Day with this Bieber Fever Bouquet. It’s a bouquet of one dozen multicolored roses in a glass vase, along with a teddy bear wearing a Justin Bieber T-Shirt and a free 4-month membership to Justin’s Fan Club.

A portion of proceeds will go to Pencils of Promise, a nonprofit organization that is partnering to re-build schools in Haiti.

This Heart of Haiti Pot Holder and Oven Mitt in Blue is one of several we’ll be featuring this month from Macy’s Heart of Haiti Collection.

This successful program was among the first to provide sustainable work for citizens of Haiti after the earthquake that wiped out huge amounts of raw materials and left their already-poor country in insecure and unsanity conditions.

Proceeds from the initiative have helped artisans repair their homes, send their kids to school, and clothe their families. All while giving them the dignity and pride of creating these one-of-a-kind, high quality products.

The oven mitt and pot holder come signed by the artisan who created it. Because they’re hand-made, no two are alike. They are machine washable and made out of a sturdy cotton/polyester blend.

Today marks the two year anniversary of the devastating Haiti earthquake. Haiti is still a nation in need of a lot of help. For the rest of the month we’ll be highlighting gifts that will help.

The Haiti Heart at UncommonGoods is a beautiful piece that was created by Haitian craftsmen through the organization Aid to Artisans. More than just giving handouts, this organization helps communities in developing countries build profitable businesses. Giving people a hand up instead of a handout can have ripple effects that help the whole country.

This piece starts with a stone purchased from local quarries in Haiti, and then is hand-carved individually. The result is a beautiful piece of art that measures 3.5″ by 3″ by 1.5″.

Our eyesight is one of the most important things in our lives. With access to vision centers, glasses stores, mail order contact lenses, and increasingly affordable LASIK surgery, it’s something we’ve grown to take for granted. And yet more than 285 million people in the world suffer from vision impairment and have no hope of access for even basic eye care.

Shaun’s Shades is a new brand of sunglasses featuring very stylish and fashionable sunglasses. To see how stylish, check out their online Look Book. Their glasses are designed in California and made in Italy, and feature Carl Zeiss lenses (which can be identified by a tiny microscopic “Z” for authenticity). Carl Zeiss is a renowned manufacturer of lenses who have accomplished things like inventing the first anti-reflective coating (which is applied to these glasses), to manufacturing the lens used to film the moon landing. They rival some of the best premium sunglasses out there. Shaun’s Shades even has a virtual mirror on their site that’s a pretty nifty way of seeing what the glasses look like on you.

But what’s remarkable about Shaun’s Shades is that for every pair you purchase, a pair of vision correction glasses will be given to someone around the world in need. So far they’ve given away more than 5,000 pairs of glasses, supporting clinics in areas like Honduras, Ecuador, Haiti, Columbia, and Peru.

I got to sample a pair of “Clyde” sunglasses. They come packaged in a sturdy, thick case:

Inside the glasses are protected in a drawstring bag with the “” slogan. There’s also some literature about the mission of Shaun’s Shades. One thing I found very cool was their business card, which features their logo of three dots (signifying the letter “S” in Braille).

The first thing that struck me was how light glasses themselves were. Yet they’re very sturdy. They’re comfortable to wear and pleasant to look through. The letters “CE” on sunglasses mean that the glasses offer a safe level of sun protection.

While I’m too bashful to take my own picture, here’s a picture of my Aflac Duck wearing the shades.

I love the little details, such as the words “GIVE” and “SIGHT” subtly placed around the glasses, as well as the Braille logo. It’s a great reminder of the good your purchase is doing. The three-dot logo is also printed on the glasses.

If you’re in the market for designer sunglasses, you can’t do much better than this: Italian-made glasses with professional grade lenses and the knowledge that your purchase is going to help give sight to others in need.

Founder Shaun Peterson probably put it best when he said “We don’t want you to compromise your personal style or desire for quality to help solve this problem – we want you to enhance it. We want you to look good giving”.

Are you looking for a simple-yet-meaningful Christmas gift? Relief International has a beautiful Relief Bead bracelet for sale on their site handcrafted by women in Africa.

These beautiful bracelets are handcrafted by African women. Costing only $10, they’ll go a long way towards Relief International’s missions. According to their site:

- One bracelet will feed a malnourished child for a week
- Five bracelets will bring a malnourished child back to good health
- Ten bracelets will restore two malnourished children
- One hundred bracelets will save the lives of 20 children.

Specifically, proceeds from these bracelets will help:

· Feed hungry children in famine stricken Africa and Haiti.
· Provide shelter and livelihoods for displaced in South Asia.
· Give loans to poor women across the world to become economically self-sufficient and feed their families.
· Ensure those impacted by disasters be it in Turkey, Pakistan, or Japan can get back on their feet.

It’s a beautiful and direct way to help change the lives of others around the world. To learn more about Relief International and to order a bracelet, visit www.ri.org. Order by Dec. 14 to ensure delivery by Dec. 24 in the US.

The good folks at Nonviolent Peaceforce reached out to me to tell me about something called “Peace Bonds”. These are beautifully designed gift cards with a difference. When you purchase one, the proceeds goes to help fund Nonviolent Peaceforce’s work around the world to prevent violence, promote peace, and protect civilians in some of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones. The cards come in different denominations from $10 (two hours of peace) to $500 (100 hours of peace).

Nonviolent Peaceforce is an international nonprofit organization with locations in South Sudan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka committed to nonviolent peacemaking in some of the world’s most dangerous conflict areas. They have been endorsed by people from The Dalai Lama to Lech Walesa. Unlike UN and government peacekeepers, they don’t use weapons or armed forces. Typically, they respond to invitations by local governments or credible local organizations committed to nonviolent solutions. Their activities have ranged from entering active conflict zones to remove civilians in the crossfire to providing opposing factions a safe space to negotiate to working in schools and talking to community leaders, to protecting families. Other activities include serving as a communication link between warring factions, securing safe temporary housing for civilians displaced by war, providing violence prevention measures during elections and negotiating the return of kidnapped family members.

After being invited, they meet key players, including commanders from opposing sides, local police, religious, business, and civil society leaders. When violence erupts, civilians under threat often contact them, as they have been living among them. Visibly nonpartisan and unarmed, they arrive in NP uniforms, with NP vehicles, letting their presence be known.