Online - January 20, 2005

Holy Cow

Donate Livestock Through Heifer International

In the immortal words of Bart Simpson, “Don’t have a cow, man.”

Good advice in most cases. But for families living in poverty around the world, a cow — or goat, or llama — could be just the thing they need.

Help fight world hunger by giving a gift from Heifer International, a nonprofit organization that provides livestock and agricultural training to impoverished families in 47 countries around the world.

In a nutshell: You drop $60 on a female rabbit. That rabbit is sent to a woman in Zambia barely surviving on $62 a year. After breeding the rabbit, she soon has 30 rabbits. (What you’ve heard about the little buggers is true.) Her family decides to sell a few bunnies each month and use the profits to start a metal and mold factory, where they employ twelve villagers (including their sons and daughters-in-law). The profits from the factory allow them to buy food, educate their children, improve their village, and battle the cycle of privation.

You get to feel helpful for just a little bit of dough.

And absolutely no D’oh.

Heifer International (800-422-0474 or heifer.org).

  Do-Gooder