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| Christmas Ark Booth |
Jesse and I have been point persons for the Starfish Action Group's sponsorship of Heifer this Christmas. "Love a Llama. Go Goat! Bee Sweet. Pick a Chick." Those are the pins we give out to donors to our Christmas Ark project.
Since we didn't have any live animals to display, we got drawings from the Sunday school kids, borrowed rabbit statues from Jesse's garden, and added little sheep, pigs and goat stuffed animals to our booth. We listed prices for heifers, water buffalo and chicks to be donated to poor families around the world through Heifer International (www.heifer.org). Heifer provides training in the care and breeding of the animals, and the receiving family gives the first offspring to another family, to expand the giving circle.
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| Honor Card for Heifer Gifts |
People donated for differing reasons. Our pastor says, "Christmas is not MY birthday." A woman gave honey bees in honor of her mother-in-law, whose family imported the first beekeeping to America, she said. Another family used to raise sheep. One couple had tasted guinea pig meat on their travels in Africa and donated a pair along with a water buffalo. Me, I donated a trio of rabbits in honor of the three new babies in our family this year. My husband says it was living on a farm with chickens, pigs and cows that got his family of 12 through the Depression and the rationing of WWII.
So far the Starfish have collected $2,025, earmarked for pigs, heifers, water buffalo, goats, sheep, honey bees, flocks of chicks, flocks of ducklings and goslings, and one gift for "where most needed." We'll accept donations for this holiday mini-campaign until New Year's Eve.
P.S. My daughter-in-law VV and her husband Michael donated a share of a llama in our honor for Christmas. Thanks, you two sweethearts!