The World Vision Gift Catalog – Gifts That Change Lives

A few years ago, I stumbled across a website mention on Twitter that referenced sending goats as gifts through a company called World Vision – I have a slight goat obsession, so I had to do some investigation on the company.

As it turns out, you can’t actually send the goats as gifts – not in the traditional sense anyway. I’m talking about the World Vision gift catalog, run by World Vision each year in an effort to provide families in struggling companies with the means to support themselves and better their lives. With each donation, the recipient of your gift of charity receives a card, and in some cases, there is a gift associated with the donation you choose. For instance, if you donate $50 to the Maximum Impact Fund, you can receive a goat plush toy, a Turquoise bracelet or a hand crafted artisan necklace.

Goats, their most popular gift option, are only $75, and not only provide nourishing milk for a family, but any surplus of milk can be sold to help support the family. Over 20,000 goats were purchased through the program last year. It’s a unique and heartwarming gift, that of sending livestock to a starving family somewhere you may never have thought of during the holiday season. Imagine how you’re loved one will feel when they know that instead of another sweater, Blu-ray disc or coffee mug, a gift was given in their name that literally mean the difference between survival and starvation for a child.

While goats are the most popular option, World Vision has gifts to fit every budget: from feeding a family in the US for a day for $16 to sending a Beehive to a family to provide a year-round source of income and nutrition for $150, the possibilities are endless. World Vision does not just concentrate on children in need in the far-reaching corners of the world, but also provides assistance to families right here in the United States through their feeding programs, which I know is very important to many of us during these tough economic times.

The gifts do not end at chicken and rabbits. As we all know, in addition to many families struggling with lack of resources and facing starvation, there is also the matter of job training, education and safety that many women deal with in less fortunate countries.

How exactly does it work? Check out this short video…

For just $25, you can provide for the job training to a woman in the field of dairy farming, baking or jewelry-making. For $50, you can help a sexually exploited child get a second chance at life by providing the means to escape, receive counseling, vocational training, even livestock to help support themselves. There are also medical donations, educational donations for children, and small business loans for moms trying to support their families.

There’s certain to be someone on your holiday shopping list that would appreciate forgoing their usual salami and cheese basket in favor of helping change the life of someone through a gift from the World Vision gift catalog. And even if there’s not, there are many options in their catalog that you can purchase as a gift to yourself – or simply as a gift to these families who do desperately need help.

My family is sending rabbits and chickens, just as a way to send out into the world a little of the good fortune that we’ve experienced in our own lives.