Friday, November 17, 2006

Grab bag Friday: Chickens are a real value!

Ok, I should have used a chicken image here, but alpacas make me laugh. Most of the week, my posts will have to do with books and music, but Fridays are going to be a bit more, well, unpredictable. Chickens and alpacas for instance.

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. How could it not be? It revolves around food (pumpkin pie especially!) and taking a moment to be thankful for the good things in life. So. As we're shopping for turkey and all the fixings this weekend, I wanted to tell you about an organization that does a really good job of helping people everywhere to have things to be thankful for...

The Heifer Project is dedicated to ending hunger permanently by providing families with livestock and training. The thing I like the most about the Heifer Project is that it is a terrific way for kids to get involved. You can work with your kids and help them save part of their allowance to give a family a flock of chicks ($20), honeybees ($30), trees ($60), a goat ($120), or other gifts of sustainable living. Check out the Online Gift Catalog to see the list of animals you can donate. Click on an animal for a fun and interesting blurb about how that animal can help someone living in poverty.

Chickens, for instance:
Chickens are a real value. Starting at six months, they can lay up to 200 eggs a year — a reliable source of protein for children who otherwise subsist mostly on starches. Extra eggs can be sold to pay for school, clothes and medicine. And in the vegetable garden, chickens peck at bugs and weeds, scratch up the soil and enrich it with droppings.

Chicks are an elegant solution to improving a family's crops and their diet — and to the dilemma of what to give your socially aware friends this season.

In Zimbabwe, Mrs. Ndagurwa is a leader in her women's agricultural club. She grows impressive vegetables in soil scratched up and fertilized by her Heifer chickens; their eggs add protein to her family's diet and generate cash to help market her produce.


So, have a great weekend and enjoy getting ready for my favorite holiday! And please take a minute to explore the Heifer Project...maybe this year you and your family (or school or church group) could give a family a trio of rabbits, or a water buffalo. Now that would be something to be thankful for!

2 comments:

Kate said...

Happy Birthday. I'm covering all my bases here.

Kate said...

What I meant was

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!