Couple vows to change surname to Van Squigglebottoms for charity

Washington, DC couple Jeff and Jessica are hoping to raise $1 million for Oxfam to help alleviate extreme poverty.

If they meet their goal, they'll change their names — and become Jeff and Jessica Van Squigglebottoms.

The couple has raised almost $4,000 so far.

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"Children are dying needlessly," Jessica told DCist when asked why the couple picked Oxfam. "In this recent recording, [Princeton professor and moral philosopher] Peter Singer explains the scale of the problem. Every day, he says, the number of children who die preventable deaths would fill a stadium. If that were on the news — that a stadium of children were certain to die if no one acted — then surely, we would all clamour to save their lives. But they live in villages and cities instead. In my mind, that makes no difference — we should be acting now. Oxfam is an effective force to alleviate extreme poverty. The money we're raising will save lives and reduce suffering."

Jeff and Jessica are a married couple with different last names, but won't reveal them until they're halfway to their $1 million goal.

"Neither last name is nearly as cool as Van Squigglebottoms," Jessica insisted.

Their campaign ends on December 31st of this year.

"We look forward to telling our future grandkids how we helped alleviate extreme poverty, one of the most pressing moral issues of our time, and became the Van Squigglebottoms family," Jessica told Yahoo! Shine, adding that their daughter and pet cat will also take the Van Squigglebottoms name, although the cat "may still be on the fence about the whole thing."

Follow the future Van Squigglebottoms on Facebook and Twitter.