Diane

Sending a goat off in the mail. Diane

See the goat

Tom & Louise

Hi Peg! Please anticipate in the next post a check in the amount of $45. Louise and I would like to initiate a male-female concept for the family/town. Although you can't milk a male goat, think of all the $20 that could be saved if these two hit it off!!! In fact, the extra $5 is for eye shadow and make up for the female; after all, she is a goat!
Love ya, Tom and Louise

Doug

Looks cool. I'll send you something today. Doug

Drew

To help a family for $20 seems a worthy thing... Payment went through. Got Goat!

Tash

Of course I am in. The $20 will be in the mail shortly!

Sandra

Great idea. I just need to get my Christmas list together, and I'll put a check in the mail. I think everyone should get the warm fuzzies of giving a goat this year . . Sandra

Mom

I like goats. As you know we are doing Christmas together this year and there is nothing I would rather have than give someone a goat or two goats or three goats! The possibilities are endless. I see this as a wonderful opportunity for you to get me something for Christmas that I would really like. Please buy a goat or goats, IN MY NAME, and then give me a card on Christmas day. Mo

Jim and Jeanne

I think we should send alpacas. I hear they're very freindly, and a great way to earn extra income!! Alpaca sweaters for all Rwandans. Moneys on the way. Jim, Jeanne

Susan

OK, sign me up for one goat. Check will be in the mail tomorrow. I am going to send this around to more people......this is simply the best charity request ever! Susan

Why this blog?

So, I sent that email (in the first post) on Monday, November 12, and have been getting the funniest responses from people since. To memorialize them, mostly for my own amusement and to remind me how smart and fun my friends and families are, I'm posting the responses here. Names have been shortened to mask identity. Many thanks to all of you for your generosity - more info to come.

First Annual Holiday Goat Drive

Friends and family - welcome to the first annual Holiday Goat Drive. Many of you may know our friend, Anne Hennelly, who spent eight weeks traveling in Africa between jobs this summer, including in Rwanda, where she met a nice American expat living in Rwanda (married to a Rwandan), Cathy (see pix of her at the link below), and learned about how a $20 goat can change the lives of a Rwandan family. A nice fertile goat provides milk for the kids and to sell, and babies to sell - goat vs. no goat is the difference between the family's children being able to go to school and not. So, Cathy helped Anne buy a goat ("Lucky"), and deliver said goat to a nice old lady while Anne was there. Since returning, Anne was very successful in a goat drive, collecting from friends and family for additional goats, and wired a ton of cash to Cathy - see pix of first goat distribution day on October 13 at the link.

We thought it would be nice to do another goat drive for the holidays (so much more fun to give a goat than an Amazon gift card ...) - so here is your chance to cheaply, easily and with certainty that goat delivery will occur with little or no overhead costs - send me $20 and you'll have bought yourself a goat!

I'm putting my address below - pop twenty bucks into an envelope to me, shoot it across the table at happy hour, send a check made out to me - we'll sort it out and get the goat money on its way to Africa! Anne will send another wire on December 15, if you want to make this distribution cycle (slackers who miss this deadline will go with the next wire, no fear). Send an email address and you'll get pix of the next goat distribution too!

Here is a link to Anne's album with Goat Distribution Day pictures and others that explain how/why this goat drive began:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=qx45q8x.2ub8veop&x=0&y=-mi3pfw. No pressure of course - there are so many ways to help out, so do so however you like. Many thanks and happy holidays!