Buy a goat to donate to a poor family...from a vending machine?
It’s now possible in New York, London and Manila, thanks to an action spearheaded by the Mormon Church and charitable organisations like UNICEF.
The idea is simple: instead of snacks, the vending machines sell brightly coloured boxes with prices ranging from two to $200, illustrating the needs of poor families at home and abroad.
Those looking to donate can choose everything from fishing bait (two dollars) to a cow that goes toward feeding a family ($150).
Other items include a polio vaccine, a sewing machine or, for local use, a New York subway map.
Donors choose a box, pay with a credit card and the “gift” falls to the bottom of the machine — a purely symbolic operation, as the boxes are empty and just used to visualize the gift.
But it’s enough to make some passersby pull out their wallets.
“The concept is excellent,” said Julie Brannan, a real estate agent from Manhattan, who stopped on her way to an appointment.