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Buy scrip from a nearby parish or school to pay for your Christmas shopping.

Now that the Christmas shopping season is officially underway, there are plenty of opportunities for you to increase your gift giving with little to no extra cost to you.

• Buy scrip from a nearby parish or school to pay for your Christmas shopping. Buy gift cards from a local parish or Catholic school. Plenty of parishes and schools are involved in some sort of “scrip” program. Take advantage of it by buying gift cards to do your Christmas shopping or to give away as gifts. The parish or school pockets a percentage of your bill. Check your parish bulletin or the Web site of a nearby Catholic school. St. Thomas the Apostle  and Our Lady of Mount Carmel schools reportedly serve as national models for the program.

• Gift wrapping. If your Christmas shopping takes you to Arizona Mills Mall in Tempe, consider getting the gift wrapped while you’re there. Parishioners from St. Mary’s Basilica will wrap it. You name the price. Proceeds will beef up the Pope John Paul II Memorial Pipe Organ Fund.
• Tax credits. Don’t forget to take care of end-of-year donations for tax purposes. Some of it is just a matter of redirecting where you want your tax money to go. Other times, you’ll get the money back dollar for dollar.