Hamilton County has a new way to embrace the spirit of giving this holiday season.

Clay Terrace is temporarily home to a Giving Machine, a vending machine-like device that allows users to donate to a variety of local and global charitable causes. Placed by Light the World Indy, it will be available through Jan. 7, 2024.

Brenna Donnelly Ford, media director with Giving Machine Indy, said Light the World started through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which sponsored the Giving Machine initiative. The first Giving Machine was introduced in 2017 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Now there are 61 worldwide, including another in Central Indiana at Newfields in Indianapolis.

“Since the Giving Machines opened in 2017, there have been 1.5 million visitors, totaling $21 million in donations,” Ford said.

Instead of snacks and sodas, Giving Machines are filled with cards representing items for people in need. Users can select from water, vaccines, farm animals and more, with prices starting at $3.

Ford said that in 2019, Mentors International, one of the nonprofits represented in the machine this year, delivered chickens to women in a village in Tanzania. After several years, the village built a farm.

“Suddenly, they had 1,000 chickens, then 2,000 chickens,” Ford said. “They were supporting their families and village. It changed the structure of the economy of their village.”

Donations to Giving Machine causes can also be made online at churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/light-the-world/giving-machines.