By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

An event in Marion Saturday supported six local causes and 30 others in the nation and worldwide.

Alternative Gift Market gives shoppers an opportunity to give a financial gift to a cause they consider worthwhile, or which their gift recipient considers worthwhile, in honor of the person they are shopping for.

This year’s local causes included Circles Marion County, Families and Communities Together, Fair Trade Coffee, Main Street Ministries, Marion County Resource Center and Food Bank, and PEO Chapter DB.

Customers walked from table to table in Marion Community Center, learned about the programs vendors raised money for and selected the programs to support. They wrote down the causes they wanted to support on a card along with the amount of money to give, and at some tables bought an ornament or token gift to take with them.

Marion County Resource Center and Food Bank, appropriately, was supported by sales of coffee, soda, and sticky buns with proceeds from those sales going to the food bank along with financial gifts for the program as selected by shoppers.

Business was brisk Saturday with many shoppers there to support local, national, and international programs to help people.