Send a Cow

Firstly, happy new year to every one... You will notice some Charities listed on the blog (right hand side) and it is important to support these Christian Charities at a time when the economy is putting all budgets under pressure. I made reference in an earlier blog posting (http://my-life-as-a-christian.blogspot.com/search/label/Christian%20Charities%20struggles) to how it can be difficult for Christian Charities doing work in this country because of over regulation and complying with discrimination laws.

Similarly, Christian Charities doing valuable work overseas are also in need of our support however small and in whatever form this might take. One of the interesting ones is the work of Send A Cow http://www.sendacow.org.uk/aboutus. I was recently contacted by Nicola from Edelman PR who represent them from a PR point of view in this country and are involved in raising the profile of Send A Cow.

Here are some additional facts about SAC, provided with permission from Jason at Edelman:

General Info

Send a Cow is a Christian charity that enables poor farmers in Africa to become self-reliant by providing them with livestock, training and advice (this includes teaching them how to build keyhole gardens, agricultural techniques to boost crops, mulching and fertility trenches). They work with some of the most vulnerable groups in Africa, including children orphaned by war, families affected by AIDS and disabled people.

Send a Cow was initially set up in 1988 by a group of Christian farmers in the UK who sent cows over to poor farmers in Africa. These Christian roots are important to the organisation.

Values

These are the characteristics of SAC:
1. Forward thinking / down to earth
2. Contemporary while still having traditional core values
3. Quirky/positive
4. Transparent/high integrity

SAC was established by farmers and so are specialists within their sector. They offer an integrated solution to providing agricultural development support to African communities (training, education, veterinary support) and so don’t just focus on sending cows.

I don't know about you but I spent some time thinking this Christmas that many of the presents you receive, whilst acknowledging it is nice to give and receive, are really not needed and often superfluous. For me, with a small toddler and another God willing on the way, I will be happy to see them get the presents to open and the joy and excitement they bring. I thought for me, would it not be better to ask people to make a donation to a favourite Christian Charity.

Indeed, one point I would make is for Charities themselves to make this sort of transaction easier - donations as Christmas/Birthday Presents. [one idea might be to be able to send a letter/ card to the person in question saying "X has made a Christmas/Birthday donation on your behalf...this has enabled (....something to happen/1 cow/10 water sanitation packs.. etc to be sent to ... e.g Africa/India...). You get the idea, it doesn't have to put a monetary value on it to save any embarrassment. I am pretty sure this is happening in some Charities already, but when you think about that box of biscuits you'll never eat or that jumper you'll never wear (although very grateful !) think of the money this could raise for charities and people who desperately need our help.

Anyway, that's it for now. If you have any Charities you want including on the links on this blog just reply to this posting and can sort it out. In the meantime, keep up the good work Send a Cow and thanks to Nicola & Jason at Edelman PR (http://www.edelman.co.uk/)