Monday, November 26, 2007

Wonderful Christmas idea

I recently finished reading a book that mentioned www.heifer.org and I was going to check it out and then post something about it on here. Then Linda Martin mentioned it during her lesson in Relief Society and I thought there was no point. But I've changed my mind. I've been reading about the things that they do at Heifer and I think it's one of the best Christmas gift ideas ever. You can donate money to help buy chickens, pigs, llamas, cows, and other livestock for people who live in poverty, to help them become more self-reliant. What I think is really cool is that they are required to then share the offspring of their gift with someone else in need.. so the gift keeps on giving and helping! Some of the animals (chickens, geese, bees) are very inexpensive, only $20-30. The llamas and other larger livestock cost around $120-250. (You can also buy shares of the larger ones, usually only $10.)
I can't think of a better Christmas gift than to let my daughter pick out what type of animals she would like to provide for a family that could really use them. We have all that we need, and most of what we want too, and Christmas has gotten to be a chore, trying to figure out what to buy for people who already buy everything they want themselves. But this year, hopefully, will be different. This year we can give help and hope to some of our brothers and sisters around the world.
This is one of the best options I've found, and I hope that everyone else will take the time to check it out... and help out if you're able.

2 comments:

Papa D said...

What a wonderful concept. Thank you for sharing it.

I have thought about taking a portion of what we normally would spend on presents and making a family Christmas donation to the Fast Offering fund, but I really like this idea, as well.

ANTSYLLI said...

I liked this idea when Linda told us about it on Sunday. For several years now Eric and I have used a portion of our Christmas funds to give to others. For us it has been very gratifying to see how the gift has been received. We have already chosen a recipient this year so maybe next year we can do this. Thanks for the idea.