About ten years before my mother died, I discovered the perfect Christmas present for her that I was able to give her year after year. It was one she bragged about up one side of town and down the other. She just loved saying, “My daughter gave me a water buffalo for Christmas.” It just tickled her funny bone and best of all, she loved what the gift was for. Since then, more people in my family have taken to giving bee hives, chickens, pigs, goats and water buffalo for wedding presents, birthday and Christmas by making a contribution to Heifer International on their behalf. You still have time to check out the most important gift catalog in the world.

Heifer International fights poverty in the US and around the world by providing livestock and training so people can become self-reliant. Even better, recipients pledge to pay it forward, giving the first offspring to someone else in their community. It’s a great program and makes for fun, wonderful gifts. At least fun to talk about – because who gets water buffalo?

So of course when my friend Maht Wuyts does his annual fundraiser for Heifer International, I am a big booster. Unlike most fundraisers, all the work falls on him as he pledges to DJ for 26.2 hours straight (over 400 songs!) both in his first and second lives – at The Star Lounge in real life and at The Velvet in Second Life. So, please take some time today before his Mahrathon comes to an end and come by The Velvet and make a contribution. If you can’t go, just send a contribution direct to Maht or make a direct contribution yourself.

If you give directly to Heifer International, you can specify where your contribution is directed and what type of gift you give – from animals to bees to water pumps and stoves. If you cannot afford to give a big gift, you can give a share in a gift. Seriously, at every level of giving, you have the potential to make a significant change for the better in people’s lives – and because they pass it on – it is magnified many times over.

So if there are people on your gift list who are hard to buy for – who seem to have everything they could need or want, consider a gift like no other – a gift of a better world, healthier and happier and more hopeful.

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