Pig Party

So, Dalton and I are on the Internet, looking for charities.



He got a raise in his allowance (up from $.50 a day to $1.00 a day!)

with the stipulation that :

• 25% goes to charity and
• 25% goes to savings.

So really, HE is not getting a raise, BUT... don't tell him that! He thinks that he is IN THE MONEY!

He picks Heifer International

He has $6 and some change to donate.

But unfortunately, the flock of hope is a little out of our price range, as is even a share of a pig. Yikes.

Scrolling down to fundraising ideas for kids, we read a

cool idea:

1. Kids get together with their spare change.
2. Dump change in a jar.
3. Kids guess how many pennies are in the jar and
4. the winner gets a prize...with the change going to buy an animal through Heifer.

Let's DO IT!!

Email invite goes out. Dalton decorates a jar. Dumps his six and some change in. And goes door to door.


Three days later, there are 14 kids walking to my home, their backpacks heavy with change.

Around the kitchen table, we talk about what it means to be really poor. It's something that these plump-cheeked little grade school kids can't even fathom.

The longest they have been without food is the eight hours that they sleep at night, between dinner and breakfast.

We talk about what a pig would do for you if you were poor...
Well, you can sell the babies for money, and you can use it's poop to make the garden grow better

(girls:"EEWWW", boys:"COOOL!")
and you can eat them so you can get protein

(girls and boys:"EEEWWW!") Guess that pepperoni on the pizza isn't going to taste the same now.

They take turns dumping it in the jar, cheering for their charity. Hoots and whistles given for the kids with the most impressive "dumps"

We decide to guess the total.

I am a little worried. ..

A full pig runs a whopping $120 bucks! (The family gets training on how to raise the pig, along with all the supplies needed...SO neat!)

So, maybe we will just shoot for some

geese,

or bees.

After the bets have been placed, the kids run off to

• eat pizza,
• play wall ball,
• jump on the tramp
• and frost cupcakes,

while a few "volunteers"

count the MOUNTAINS of change.

A lot of minutes later (and a few paper clips, nails, and other foreign objects that we had to weed out)

we had our total......drum roll please........

$120 and some change!

Way to go kids!
...and pig, pack your bags,
you are on your way to Haiti or Latvia!