'So send it to them!', was my response to my parents comments regarding eating all the food on my plate because there are starving children across the world. Here is my big chance...

Heifer Gift Catalog is a sponsor for the Family Farmed Expo at Navy Pier here in Chicago this weekend. Yep, you got it, I can buy a farm animal for a small villages across the world! Some of the animals offered are:

• heifer for $500 USD
• goat for $120 USD
• bees for $30 USD
• sheep for $120 USD
• geese for $20 USD
• rabbits for $60 USD
• pig for $120 USD
• ducks for $20 USD
• llama for $150 USD
• chicks for $20 USD
• buffalo for $250 USD

In my own mind, I have always juggled the idea of giving food to the impoverished. Whenever someone, namely the US, gives a lot of food to a friend in need, it seems the population increases and the problem gets worse. However in the case where we buy someone a heifer, maybe there will be an change in attitude due to the work associated with care of the animal.

Personally, I do know taking care of a calve can change ones attitude. Several years ago on my semester off from college, I landed in a resort camp in Seattle WA where I was charged with the task of raising two newborn calves for the first three months of their lives. After this, I never looked at a steak the same way again. I still eat meat, however I do recall how the taking care of these animals somehow made me more aware of taking care of myself.