Give this wild and woolly gift to a friend April 11-15. It’s for a good cause
Most gifts don’t bleat this loud.
Wishing Star Foundation’s annual “Send a Friend a Goat” fundraiser is back for a 17th year and will take place April 11-15.
For $75, donors can arrange for a baby goat to make an in-person visit to anyone — friends, foes, or family members — in the Tri-Cities.
The recipient who’s been “goated” can then either send the goat to another person for another $75, make a donation or simply take in the four-legged madness for the limited time. Goat insurance can also be purchased from wranglers for $100 to make sure the goats don’t reappear.
Funds raised will benefit the Wishing Star Foundation, which grants wishes to children, ages 3 to 21, with terminal or life-threatening conditions and provides support to the family.
Last year, the Tri-City event raised about $50,000, said Wishing Star Foundation board chairman John Henker.
More than 6,000 families have benefited from Wishing Star’s work, according to a news release. There are currently 34 children in the Spokane and Tri-Cities areas that are waiting for their wishes to be granted.
On Thursday, Hugh Severs, Wishing Star Foundation’s executive director, named two, 2-week-old Nigerian Pygmy goats Mo and Larry.
The noisy, well-tempered pair were on display at Toyota of Tri-Cities for a media day promoting the upcoming weeklong event.
“Goats: It’s what the people want,” Severs said. “It helps us get the mission done and they are cute.”
Landen Schroeder, 18, of Pasco, is a former “Wish Kid” that helps out with the organization’s fundraisers.
When Schroeder was 8, he was diagnosed with meningioma, a noncancerous tumor, which affects his vision. He’s undergone multiple surgeries and treatments.
“You get this lonely feeling. You’re the only one at the operating table,” he said.
“They’re like a family that has stuck by my side,” he said of Wishing Star.
His wish was to upgrade his 2013 Subaru Legacy. With Wishing Star’s help, he was able to put new rims, wheels and an airbag suspension in his car just recently.
Now, as a mentor in Wishing Star’s Beyond the Wish program, he volunteers and helps bring smiles to kids who have undergone similar medical challenges.
Donors can learn more about the process — and the goats, some as young as 4 weeks — online. Wishing Star is also soliciting volunteer goat wranglers to help out during the week-long event.
