Skip to main content

Adopt a Troll, Do Some Good

I've decided to adopt a troll. What does that mean? Every time the troll leaves some troll dung on a blog I read, I'll donate a dollar to charity. (I'll send a check at the end of the month.) Heifer International seems appropriate. HI provides livestock and other agricultural projects to needy people around the world for income, self-sufficiency and more protein in their diet. An example of their work:

One of Heifer International's biggest projects is EADD - the East Africa Dairy Development project. It was started in 2008 with a $42.8 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It's helping about 179,000 small-scale dairy farmers to double their incomes.
Now, we're happy to announce that we've received a one-year, $8.5 million grant from the Gates Foundation to continue that work. The grant will support existing projects in Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda and explore possibilities for expansion in Ethiopia and Tanzania.

“We are excited for the opportunity to continue serving dairy farming families and grateful to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for their support,” says Elizabeth Bintliff, vice president of Heifer International’s Africa area program. 
So what, exactly does EADD do? The project helps small dairy farmers sustainably increase their milk productivity and efficiency. It also helps them sell more milk by connecting to markets and by creating and expanding infrastructure like collection hubs and chilling plants. 
EADD is now in its final year of the pilot phase. It has grown to be one of the leading market-oriented agro-livestock development initiatives in East Africa, earning the farming families more than $35 million. 
Heifer International is implementing the project, with help from partners TechnoServe, The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), World Agroforestry Research Institute and Africa Breeders Services. 
Source:  http://www.heifer.org/join-the-conversation/blog/2012/july/heifer-gets-8-5-million-from-gates-foundation-for-africa-dairy-work.html

Recently, the Gates Foundation donated another $25.6 million to the project.

Annoying trolls AND helping people get the money and food they need? I'm looking forward to it.

Maybe some low carb diabetics would like to adopt a troll whose initials are Charles Grashow.

Labels:

Comments

Michael Frederik said…
I'm not sure if I understand how this would work. Surely Grashow, who is terribly afraid of cholesterol, will not leave any comments that would somehow lead to the production of artery-clogging whole dairy?
May 22, 2014
tess said…
Hehehehehe....
May 22, 2014
Lori Miller said…
We'll see. If the trolls post comments and money goes to charity, it's a win. If they go away, it's a win, too.
May 22, 2014
Almond said…
What a great idea.
May 22, 2014
Lori Miller said…
I'm pleased to announce that Adopt-a-Troll has just raised its first dollar via Tess's Paleo Journey. Hurray!
May 22, 2014
Larcana said…
Love it! I'm a Heifer International fan myself.
May 23, 2014
JanKnitz said…
I don't know, you could go broke. Some of those trolls seem to have nothing better to do, 24/7. A win for Heifer, but might make you poor rather quickly!

P.S. One of my favorite birthday presents ever is when my daughter "bought me" a flock of Heifer International chickens. I hope they made lots and lots of eggs and brought good food, joy, and economic security to a family somewhere.
May 23, 2014
Lori Miller said…
What a thoughtful gift! So many of us already have so much that it's hard to find a wonderful gift.
May 23, 2014
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

This Just In: Yogurt Doesn't Improve Health

A recent study from Spain finds "In comparison with people that did not eat yogurt, those who ate this dairy product regularly did not display any significant improvement in their score on the physical component of quality of life, and although there was a slight improvement mentally, this was not statistically significant," states López-García. Most yogurt is pretty much pudding with a little bacteria . Pudding is a sugar bomb. Hard to believe the stuff doesn't improve health outcomes, isn't it? But as usual, researchers are calling for...more research. "For future research more specific instruments must be used which may increase the probability of finding a potential benefit of this food."
23 comments
Read more

Paleo Diet: Eating Differently from Everyone Else is Fine!

I've been seeing more and more articles by women (it's always women) whose heads have exploded trying to figure out life without yogurt and cupcakes. Oh, the shenanigans they get up to: bathroom problems from stuffing themselves with vegetables, paleo baked goods that don't taste the same as ones from the bakery, and especially the irresistible urge to eat "normally." The technical problems aren't hard to sort out: substitutes like baked goods will taste different because they are different, but an adjustment period of a few months will make those foods taste normal. And whatever you eat, don't stuff yourself. First, though, read a book by Loren Cordain or Mark Sisson to learn about the paleo diet before diving in. The articles I keep reading, though, have more to do with attitude: the urge to be exactly like everybody else or the urge to be helpless. If you're in the second category, I can't, by definition, help you. If you'd rather be Lu
19 comments
Read more

Decongestant Ineffective; Vibration Plate Works

A common ingredient in many cold medicines has been shown so ineffective that the FDA recently proposed taking it off the market. The ingredient, phenylephrine, "failed to outperform placebo pills in patients with cold and allergy congestion," say researchers from the University of Florida. "The same researchers also challenged the drug's effectiveness in 2007, but the FDA allowed the products to remain on the market pending additional research," according to CNBC .  Mostly placebos. Photo from Pixabay . I can attest that phenylephrine doesn't work. Before I stopped eating wheat, I constantly had nasal and sinus congestion. I helped keep Sudafed in business when the active ingredient was pseudoephedrine, but I noticed the PE (phenylephrine) variety didn't work at all. The only other decongestants I've found helpful are guaifenesin (Mucinex) and spicy food. Mucinex is expensive because it works! (The cheaper store brands work just as well, though.) Su
Post a Comment
Read more

Robert F. Kennedy shows up at the FDA

 
Post a Comment
Read more

Palpitations Gone with Iron

Thanks to my internet friend Larcana, who alerted me to the connection between iron deficiency and palpitations, I doubled down on my iron supplements and, for good measure, washed them down with Emergen-C. It's a cold medicine with a mega-dose of vitamin C, plus B vitamins and minerals. I don't think vitamin C does anything for a cold (a friend bought the stuff and left it at my house the last time she visited), but vitamin C does help iron absorption. After doubling up on iron in the last three days, I feel back to normal. (I'd already been taking quite a bit of magnesium and potassium, so I probably had sufficient levels of those.) How did I get so low on iron? Maybe it was too many Quest bars instead of red meat when I had odd cravings during my dental infection recently. Maybe because it's too hard to find liver at the grocery store and I haven't eaten much of it lately. Maybe the antibiotics damaged my intestines . And apparently, I'm a heavy bleeder .
18 comments
Read more