Meet Glenda and Rygel the geese--$20.  Meet Chuy the goat--$120. Lilly the sheep--$120. Dalai the llama--$150.  Roscoe the water buffalo--$250.  And Isabella the cow--$500.

When Alison Tilley was a young woman, she took the advice of Anita Roddick, founder and CEO of The Body Shop, to heart.  “Anita taught me that you can run a business and still have a soul,” said Tilley, founder of Alison Tilley’s Tropical Living.

So when Tilley, at the young age of 21, started a women’s knitting co-op in Kathmandu that employed 65 women, she paid them a fair wage, and she provided daycare for her employees’ children.  “I learned that prosperity for everyone—not just the business owner—really does work,” said Tilley.  “I guess you could call me a social capitalist.”

Now, nearly 20 years later, Tilley continues to practice the same philosophy.  “I want to help end world hunger and improve peoples’ lives worldwide, which is why I chose Heifer International as the charity I want to support,” said Tilley.  “I believe if you’re really serious about making a difference, you do more than just say ‘a percentage of profits goes to this or that charity.’  After all, aren’t most companies in the business of looking like they don’t make much profit in order to lessen their tax burden?”

As Tropical Living's way of saying “thank you," whenever a customer buys an island, rents one of their 52 properties for a week or longer, or buys one of the company’s homeware collections, Tropical Living purchases a livestock animal—a Glenda and Rygel, a Chuy, a Lilly, a Dalai, a Roscoe, an Isabella—from Heifer International for a family in need somewhere around the world.

“Goats are wonderful animals,” said Tilley.  “They provide millions of families across the world with vital nutrients from milk, butter, cheese and yogurt.  Plus, goats often give birth to two or three kids a year, which means that Heifer recipient families can start small dairies that can pay for food, health care and education. It’s really quite a beautiful thing.”

Tilley believes so strongly in the work of Heifer International that she has included audio clips on the website in which she explains what’s so special about each animal and why Tropical Living is willing to buy them on behalf of their clients.  The animals get in the action, too, with audio clips of a moo, quack, honk or bah—consider each a thank you—giving clients a deeper sense of how their tropical living choices can help others.

“Ducks are delightful. They’re good for the environment and for people, too,” said Tilley. “They provide a steady supply of protein-rich eggs and the extra eggs they produce can be sold to pay for school fees, medicine, clothing and home improvements. They find a good portion of their food by themselves, and they efficiently dispose of weeds, gobble up insects, slugs and snails and fertilize the soil with their droppings, all of which results in better crops.”

Heifer International is a non-profit community development organization whose goal for over 60 years has been to help end world hunger and poverty through self-reliance and sustainability. They have a simple but powerful vision: that a gift of livestock and training can transform the lives of impoverished families. They help by teaching people how to produce food and income for themselves using donated animals, including cows, goats, water buffalos, llamas, and chickens. "Passing on the Gift" means the recipients agree to share the offspring of the donated animals with others in need, thus becoming donors themselves. Heifer also helps communities flourish through small loans and enterprise planning and has helped more than seven million families lift themselves from poverty to self-reliance, providing hope for the future for hungry families all over the world.

“Heifer International is one of the greatest charities on the planet,” said Tilley, the caretaker of numerous animals, “And Tropical Living is truly honored to help raise awareness and money for them and those they help.”

To learn more about Heifer International please visit their website www.heifer.org.

Having traveled the world 10 times over searching for the most spectacular tropical islands and spas on earth—from Bora Bora to Bali, Thailand to Fiji—Alison Tilley is an island, spa and tropical lifestyle expert and is available for interviews and appearances.  She sells and rents entire tropical islands, rents some of the finest tropical spas and villas worldwide and offers an international collection of tropical homeware.

Alison Tilley’s Tropical Living is an unusual tropical travel, homeware and lifestyle company that advocates slowing down, reconnecting and enjoying more “Leisure in Luxury.” It offers practical solutions for a happier, healthier, more balanced life. Visit Tropical Living on the World Wide Web at www.TropicalLiving.com.

Combining luxury tropical travel, homeware, philosophy and philanthropy has never been done like this before.

Tropical Living—An Oasis Online. It’s Upscale that’s Uplifting.