Goat-a-palooza brings livestock to the Quad

By Kalyn Cooper

Springtime on the Quad is traditionally home to musicians, dancers, sunbathers or Frisbee-players. But today on the Quad, there will be goats.

Goat-a-palooza, a fundraiser for Heifer International featuring live entertainment, face painting, a raffle and three goats, will be in Anniversary Plaza Friday afternoon from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. Allen Hall and Amnesty International are sponsoring the event.

“I hope people will be really surprised and excited to see us,” said Rachel Sauer, junior in LAS and co-organizer of Goat-a-palooza. “No one’s ever brought livestock to the Quad before.”

Sauer said she came up with the idea for a Heifer International fundraiser after her political science teacher suggested it last year. Heifer is an organization that donates livestock – usually goats – to third world countries to help stop hunger and poverty.

Jenette Sturges, sophomore in LAS, said she will be at Goat-a-palooza because she wants to help people learn about the charity.

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“It’s kind of like the ‘teach someone to fish’ policy,” Sturges said. “Teaching someone to use a goat can feed them and help them farm for a long time.”

Sturges said one of her favorite features of Heifer International is that when one of the goats has kids, each of those kids are given to other families around the world through the program.

Although Sauer had been planning the fundraiser since February, she said the idea of bringing goats on the Quad started as a joke with Anne Sharkey, co-organizer and sophomore in LAS.

“I jokingly said we should bring goats, but then we started thinking about how many people it would attract,” Sharkey said. “It was really just an off-hand remark that transformed into something big.”

Sauer said the three goats are from a local family-owned farm, and the program volunteers have all been brainstorming ways to keep the event civilized.

She said the goats will be in a fenced-in pen the whole time, and the entire event will be under a tent in case of rain. There will also be a tarp underneath to help with clean up.

Brooks Moore, assistant dean of students and director of the RSO office, said he has been meeting with Amnesty International for six weeks to make sure the event runs smoothly.

“There have been many organizations involved, it should be extremely organized,” Moore said. “There will be fencing and lining to respect the wishes of the College of ACES, and we’re adhering to USDA’s animal handling policies as well.”

Sauer said only people within the program will be allowed to handle the goats, but anyone can come to get their pictures taken and enjoy the atmosphere.

Sturges said there will be a variety of activities available besides taking pictures with the goats – including bands, food, face painting and costumes.

“As long as it doesn’t rain, there should hopefully be a lot of people coming through as they walk down the Quad,” Sturges said. “We’ll get their attention when someone walks down the sidewalk in a camel costume.”

Sharkey said while she would love to make a lot of money for the cause, her main goal will be to bring attention to the program.

“We’re really using the goats as a draw to get people to stay for a minute, pick up a flier and maybe drop a small donation off,” Sharkey said. “We’d love for anyone and everyone to come out because every little bit helps.”

Sharkey said if Goat-a-palooza is successful this year, she would like to make it an annual event.

“If it goes well, we can start an RSO and do it again next year,” she said. “We’re also working with freshmen so they can continue after we graduate.”

Although this is the first time bringing goats onto Anniversary Plaza, Moore said it’s great that demonstration is seen on a daily basis.

“Students in this area have the right to speech and counter-speech at all times,” Moore said. “We are here to support them and provide the venue.”

Sauer said she’s very grateful they have the opportunity to use this area for Goat-a-palooza, and that she cannot wait to get the word out to the campus community.

“People can do a lot to stop world hunger, they just don’t know how,” Sauer said. “Heifer is a great opportunity, and I’ve just fallen in love with the program.”