The Christmas Spirit

Everybody I know likes to give at least some money to charity during the Christmas season. Or, to be a little clearer, everybody I know believes that they should give to charity and finds it rewarding to do so. If you're coming here I suspect that one of your life motivations is to make the world a better place.

In my family we decided years ago to concentrate our giving on the Heifer Project, a charity that helps provide food relief, economic development, and self-sufficiency to people in impoverished regions around the world. They have a catalogue that describes what they do and what your contribution buys, so you can give geese, pigs, honeybees, or even big animals like heifers, llamas, or water buffalo. They even have a project specifically targeted to help women, who make up the vast majority of impoverished people around the world.

There's too much need for any of us to think we're doing more than scratching the surface, but I have no doubt that Heifer is one organization that really makes a difference in people's lives.