Swap a Goat (for charity)

I really wish I had thought to mention this swap here before today. (The swap button is on the right.) I hope any of my swapper friends who visit will check it out and sign up; the deadline is June 8.

Here's part of the swap description:

Did you know that a mother in Africa loses a child to Malaria every 30 seconds? A malaria net costs just £5 and can save the lives of a whole family of children.

This is a swap for swappers who are willing to give the cost of one swap (or a few crafting items) to help others. Here is how it works....

There are several charities who operate an alternative gift project....
They work by you giving an online donation in exchange for them sending a person you nominate a card explaining that you have bought them an alternative gift, such as a goat, a fruit tree, an emergency blanket or immunisations for a child. There is a very wide choice. Some charities actually buy the exact item. Others pool the gift money to buy bigger items or to enable them to respond to need. So say if you buy a goat and they have enough goats they might actually buy a sheep. Either way the money goes to someone in need.

The cost depends on what you choose but starts from about £5 so that is all this swap need cost.

Choose a charity you want to support.

Choose a gift you can afford. This is not a competition to show how much spare change you have though - the smallest gift is all that is required and will be a very generous thing to do for someone.

Nominate your swapbot partner to receive the gift.

The charities I have used before allow you to add a message or to personalise the card. If yours does not, wait a little while then send a swap-bot message, email or a postcard so that your partner knows who it was that chose their gift.

It would be wonderful if the swap-bot community could really unite on this one so that we can 'swap for good' as it were. So can I ask you, if you are willing to do this that you publicise this swap. Tell your partners in other swaps about it. If you are a hostess perhaps you could add a note on your swaps to come here. If you blog please mention it on your blog.

I plan on donating to Heifer International, one of my favorite charities. There are several others listed on the swap page, or you can choose your own.

Let's get together and do some good.

(Thanks to Helen Conway for hosting this cool swap.)