Books and Charities

Earlier this year, after much prodding from various friends, I discovered Patrick Rothfuss' books The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear. Around the same time I also discovered his blog, where he was wrapping up a big fundraising event for Heifer International. I discovered it too late to get involved last year, but I was pretty excited to see it come back around this year.

Heifer International is a charity I actually remember donating to in high school. One of my friends did fundraising for them as part of her community service for National Honor Society, and it seemed like a really cool charity. Your donations go to buying livestock for impoverished families around the world, which helps them become self-reliant. Chickens provide eggs. Goats and cows provide milk. And when the animals start having babies, the gift multiplies.

I did actually do some research into the charity this time around, and they aren't perfect. A smaller percent of their proceeds go to actually buying animals than that of similar organizations. People in general seem pretty split, either loving or hating the charity with very few people feeling lukewarm about it. I can see where they have some problems, but mostly they seem to be a force for good in this world.

Rothfuss is certainly a fan, which is why he organizes this big fundraiser every year. And it's because of his fundraiser that I decided to make a donation this year.

Every $10 donation you make through Rothfuss enters you in a drawing for one of hundreds of fabulous prizes. And there are seriously a ton of prizes. Rothfuss is compiling a master list on his blog. There are advanced copies of books from nearly every major fantasy and sci-fi publisher. There are collections of books from various authors. There are signed books. There's also an auction, in addition to the lottery, where you can bid on items you really want. Or you can just buy something from Rothfuss' store, the proceeds of which will go directly to Heifer International.

I've donated in order to enter the lottery (and because I do think the charity is doing good work), and all in all I'm feeling pretty good about myself. They actually calculated the odds last year and determined that a $30 donation gives you slightly better than a 10% chance of winning something, which are not bad odds at all. Not to mention that $30 can buy a family some honeybees or a flock of ducks, or contribute to a bigger animal. The odds will probably change slightly this year, but there are seriously a lot of prizes to be won. I'm really hoping I get an interesting book that I haven't read yet.