Day Two: You are AWESOME.

We’ve raised over $70,000 in the first day with all the matching funds. Twenty-four hours, you guys! This is fantastic! We’d tell you how much you rock, but you might already know that. So instead, we’re going to shift gears a little.

As promised, our Lottery Library is filling up with all the cool things we have in the lottery and on auction. Feel free to head over there and check it out! There’s lush books from Subterranean Press, some beautiful jewelry from Badali Jewelry, and auctions for Game of Thrones prop replicasfrom Valyrian Steel. Every $10 you donate is one chance to win some of this awesome stuff!

We do the lottery every year to encourage folks to donate (and because it’s super-fun), but honestly, the real winners are the folks Heifer helps with all the money we raise. Right now, $70,000 basically translates to 583 goats. That’s 583 families who can pull themselves out of poverty, start a farm, and send their kids to school.

How does it work?

Pat mentioned this in his blog, but in case you missed it, please check out this video. It’s short, but we want to give you guys an idea of what we’re talking about.

If you can’t watch it right now, it’s an interview with a woman named Chasha, who once had to beg to support her family. She was skeptical about some random charity giving away goats, but she was willing to put in the hard work–she joined Heifer’s program, built a fence, and learned how to farm goats. These days, she has the ability to buy groceries, make bread, and send her granddaughter to school.

Chasha is one of the many people whose lives have been vastly improved by Heifer’s programs. Folks like her are the exact reason we do this every year, and this lasting change is what makes us so optimistic about the future. Feel free to visit Heifer’s website to see what other programs they have going right now, and find out how more people like Chasha are getting the help they need to become independent and successful.

Thanks so much you guys. You’re the best.

–The Worldbuilders Team