Charity offers animal donations as gifts

By ANNIE BERGMAN, Associated Press WriterTue Dec 19, 2:44 PM ET

Instead of waiting in line with hundreds of others for a chance at nabbing the year's hottest Christmas gifts, Food Network chef Alton Brown decided on an intangible alternative for the people on his list — a donation to Heifer International.
Brown is on a growing list of donors that give to the Little Rock-based charity at the holidays finding that, sometimes, the perfect gift for the person who has everything is to give them nothing — except the satisfaction of knowing money was spent to help poor people worldwide.
"If I can get a couple of cows in Russia, bees to people in Kentucky, or a couple of flocks of geese to folks in China, that actually matters and I feel really good about it," Brown said from his Atlanta office at Be Square Productions, the company that produces his "Good Eats" show for the cable television network.
Heifer works in 50 countries to provide animals ranging from snails and silkworms to elephants and water buffalo. The charity's goal is to provide the livestock to needy families so they can produce a product, such as milk or silk, and support themselves. Recipients are required to give some of the animals' offspring to neighbors to pass on the gift.
The communities where Heifer works choose recipients typically through a democratic process, said Ray White, a spokesman for the organization. "Sometimes they'll pick families that are ready first, that have most developed food security system for the animals," White said.


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