A few years ago, my daughter L.E. saw a photo of a starving child in a book about weather. On a famine page they showed a little boy who had not eaten in a long time. 
She asked me about it and I told her that boy was starving.
She got quiet and then said, “But that’s pretend, right? That’s not real, right?”
She was 5 at the time and couldn’t imagine other 5 year olds had a different day than she did. She thought everyone got up, ate breakfast, did not watch Caillou because that kid is even scared of his own hair, ate lunch and dinner and then went to bed.
She didn’t understand poverty.
As a dad, what I really heard her saying in those questions she asked was, “You’re not OK with that, are you? Do other people know about that? Are you doing anything about that dad?”
At the time I really wasn’t. I was using this blog for my own fame, affirmation and “brand.”
But L.E.’s questions wouldn’t leave me alone. In the years that have followed we as a family have tried to be deliberate about serving. Even if one of the ways is a little ridiculous sounding.
For years, my kids have picked out items in a charity catalog.
“Items” is a bit of an overstatement. It’s really “item.”
The catalog could be a thousand pages long and it wouldn’t matter. My kids always pick one thing.
Goats.
They love sending goats to people.
Why?
Because they know that one goat produces 1.5 tons of manure each year, enriching soil with minerals, increasing crop growth.
Or they think goats are cute.
It’s probably that second reason.
This year, I thought it would be fun to invite you into the great Acuff goat adventure.
So for the next 24 hours, we’re going to make it rain goats. (100 to be exact.)
Some of my friends work for “Food for the Hungry.” Since 1971 they’ve worked incredibly hard to help change the world. Today, they’ve provided a super easy link and all the info you need. (To learn more about their work, click here.)
A goat costs $120. They are a simple, small, fun way for us to make poverty pretend.
You can give a full goat or just $20 toward a goat. (It’s Christmas, a lot of us are financially strapped right now what with Burlington Coat Factory and Sky Mall purchases and what not.)
Want to help the world in a fun way today?
Want to change the future for someone with something as tiny (and adorable) as a goat?
Let’s do it.
Let’s give 100 goats in the next 24 hours.
Want to help out?
Click here to give $20 toward a goat. (Maybe you can find 6 friends and sponsor that goat together and name it.)
