I think so – that’s why this week I’m going to be blogging for Chickens!
Today when I logged onto my computer a Calendar notification popped up at me telling me that it’s ProBlogger’s 2nd birthday. Time flies when you’re having fun.
So how does one celebrate a blog birthday?
Blogging has given a lot to me. It’s helped me meet some great people, it’s given me a more global perspective on life and provided my family with a good income (to name just a few benefits).
But I want more….
I want my blogging to benefit others. Not just in the information that it provides – but I would love blogging to become something that changes the lives of people who through circumstances beyond their control are unable to live to their potential.
The result of this is that instead of having a blog birthday that is all about me and my blog I want to have one that gives something back.
So for the next 7 days I’m going to blog for chickens!
Over the next week V and I have decided to use a percentage of our blogging income to buy Chickens for people in parts of the world who are experiencing poverty.
We’ll be doing this via a charity that I strongly believe in – Oxfam Australia (I know they are global but we’ll be giving through Oxfam Australia).
I’d like to invite you to celebrate with me by considering donating Chickens too (read on to find out how).
Why Chickens?
Oxfam Australia have a great online store where you can buy ‘presents’ for family and friends that actually help fight poverty. One of the items in their store is Chickens.
$10 (Aussie dollars – that’s $7.50 USD) buys a family living in poverty a pair of Chickens. The $10 donation covers:
- Buy local chickens
- Train families in how to care for their chickens
- Provide vaccinations for the chickens
- Provide market awareness training so families can make the most of their feathered friends
In essence purchasing chickens for these families and their wider communities the potential to provide their families with food (through eggs) and a means of income (through selling the chickens that breed). Chickens break the poverty cycle in a practical and empowering way.
Give Chickens
V and I are going to put a percentage of our week’s income into Chickens this week and would like to invite you (the ProBlogger community) to join us.
I’m going to keep a tally of how many pairs of chickens we buy over the week – (a chook-o-meter) which will help inspire us a little in our giving.
How to Give
There are two ways that you can give to this project:
1. Head to Oxfam Australia and Donate Directly – Here’s their chicken page where you can buy as many Chickens as you’d like. Remember $10AU is $7.50US. If you want your chooks to be included in the chook-o-meter send me an electronic card as part of the purchase process – please include in your message in the card how many pairs of chickens you bought (email it to darren AT problogger DOT net (replace the AT with a @ and the DOT with a .)
2. Shoot me your donation via PayPal and I’ll buy as many Chickens as we can afford with our accumulated donations at the end of the week – I’ll collect any money deposited into my paypal account (via the ‘Make a Donation’ button at the top of my sidebar) with a note saying it’s for the ‘chickens project’ and will purchase an equivalent amount of chickens with that money at then end of the week. I’ll add the equivalent amount of chickens as they’re donated to the tally.
How Much Give?
Ultimately this is completely up to you. A pair of Chickens cost $10AU and I’ll count them in $10 units. If you’d like to give one then that’s great – if you want to give 10 that’s great too, if you want to give a percentage of your earnings then that’s much appreciated also – I’ll leave it up to you and won’t be publishing a list of donators or how much people give.
In my opinion this type of giving is a private thing – if you want to publicize how much you give you’re welcome to do it on your own blog but here we’ll just add up the totals as a way of inspiring each other in our giving.
If you can’t afford to give $10 then there’s no pressure to. You can support the project by spreading the news about it and/or giving a smaller donation if you wish.
I’m not sure how many pairs of Chickens we’ll raise but hopefully together we can get a nice flock peep of them going!
PS: the chook-o-meter in the sidebar will be updated every 12 or so hours so if you make a donation and don’t see it go up please know that I’m doing this manually and will periodically update it. Thanks for your patience on this.
Update: This project is now over – the receipt for the donation is posted here.
