Piggy banks raided to buy goats, chickens

Staff

FORT FRANCES—Some children spend their allowance on video games, toys, and candy.
But French students at Robert Moore School here have something else in mind for their money: livestock.
Saving up their allowances, and whatever else they have in their piggy banks, the students have been raising funds so they can buy a goat, two chickens, and a rooster through World Vision to give to a family in a developing country for Christmas.
French teacher Nathalie von Niebelschütz said it’s been encouraging to see all these children take this effort “seriously to heart.”
“Just to see their charitable spirit at Christmas is really heart-warming,” she remarked.
von Niebelschütz noted the goal, which they expected to reach by last Friday, was $155, with the goat costing $100 and the hens and roosters costing $55.
The two hens and a rooster, according to World Vision, will provide up to 150 eggs a year, as well as a new flock of chicks that can be eaten, raised, and sold so the family has continual income.
The gift of a goat, meanwhile, can mean families can produce up to 250 litres of milk each year.
Two goats also can be bred, and produce roughly two-three kids each year, in the hopes their numbers eventually will grow into a whole herd.
(Fort Frances Times)