Heifer International is an Arkansas-based non-profit devoted to helping hungry families feed themselves.
Heifer bills their service as "The Most Important Gift Catalog in the World.", and they're probably right. Every donation buys an animal for a hungry family. That family then promises to give the offspring from the animal to a neighbor and so on...
For $20 you can buy some baby chicks. $30 buys a honey bee setup. $150 buys a llama. A water buffalo costs $250 and a Heifer will run you a cool $500. You can get pigs, goats, rabbits and ducks.
There are packages from $10 to $10,000.
There are even gift baskets like the "Flock of Hope" or the "Joy to the World":
Joy To The World[...]
The Joy To The World collection includes two sheep, four goats, a heifer and two llamas. These animals mean new hope in the lives of the hardworking poor families who receive them. Cow and goats' milk is full of nutrients and your animals will provide a family with daily provisions of vitamin-rich milk.
Think about that the next time you grab a glass of milk.
After I purchased the Basket of Hope for friends of mine, I was able to use their flash-based gift cards to customize a note that actually choked me up.
In this time of giving, while some demagogues in America invent ideological wars for political gain, the real spirit of humanity is alive and well throughout the world.
Peace on Earth.