This goat could be fundraising star

If you’re not inclined to have a goat named after you, you can buy insurance for $10.

And if you have suggestions of someone for whom the goat should be named, you can pay an additional $10 to offer five names up for consideration.

It’s all part of a fundraising campaign. The West Side Lions Clubs – Kingston, Forty Fort, Edwardsville and Swoyersville – are working together to raise $25,000 to purchase defibrillators for the Wyoming Valley West School District.

If you want the goat named after you, you can leave your name on the list and even bring the goat home. But if you don’t want the goat, the Lions have a backup plan. The goat will go to a family that has agreed to care for it after the fundraising drive is completed.

“A group of us got together and came up with the idea of goat insurance,” Cook said. “When you are trying to raise money, you want to be different, kind of set yourself apart.”

A live goat will be at the Hoyt Library in Kingston on Thursday evening at the kickoff of the fundraising campaign. Wyoming Valley West Superintendent Charles Suppon is expected to purchase the first goat insurance policy.

“Who really wants to win a goat?” Mizenko asked. “Who wants to have a goat named after them?

Cook said there are about 90 members of the four West Side Lions Clubs and a list of 100 people has been compiled to receive letters requesting they buy goat insurance. For $5, a person can remove his or her name one time, but $10 guarantees your name removed even if it is submitted more than once. And for another $10, you can submit five names of people for whom you would like the goat named.

Cook and Mizenko said the list continues to grow and every name submitted will receive a letter from the Lions asking them to purchase goat insurance.

The campaign will end sometime after the holidays, Cook said, and the goat’s name will be revealed.

“There might be some people out there that won’t mind a goat being named after them,” Mizenko said.

Proceeds from the campaign will be used to replace the automatic external defibrillators at Valley West that are more than 10 years old. The new AEDs will include audiovisual alarmed storage boxes and first responder first aid bags. The project also will provide first aid/CPR/AED training by certified trainers at no cost to the district.