SEQUIM – Surrounded as we are by worthy causes – people in need, a polluted planet, struggling wildlife – one can feel overwhelmed.

And at holiday time, compassion fatigue can go right along with gift-buying burnout.

Carolyn Kempkes hopes to make the next few weeks a little easier.

She publishes the Alternative Gift Project catalog, a guide to 15 Western Washington charities, including two based on the North Olympic Peninsula.

The 44-page catalog, available on the Web and in hard copies, is produced each year by Cedars Unitarian Universalist Church on Bainbridge Island.

But its reach is worldwide – like the groups described within.

One is the Sequim-based Mujeres de Maiz Opportunity Foundation, which raises money for scholarships, computers and eyeglasses for girls and women in rural Chiapas, Mexico.

Retired Sequim High School teacher Judith Pasco, who co-founded the organization in 2006, is a member of the Olympic Unitarian Universalist Church in Agnew.