Happy New Year! 2014 is a series of 365 blank pages. I hope we can all fill them with goodness.
On Christmas morning we opened many wonderful, perfect presents from our families – a pair of cozy Victoria’s Secret thermal long john snowflake pajamas with matching ballet slippers that I love to death and wear pretty much every single minute (I’m serious. Every single minute.) that I am not in public, a gorgeous, soft, and incredibly warm deep-purple, hand-knitted blanket from my mom, a really handsome Packer jacket for Ted, a pretty personalized ornament, a nifty little machine that takes all the guess-work out of cooking the perfect hard or soft-boiled eggs, a trio of wool dryer balls that help reduce static and drying time and keep clothing nice and soft, Seroogy’s chocolate, etc.
But the most surprising, coolest, and most special gift we received this year was a flock of chickens, donated to a family in need, in our honor. The company is called Heifer International, and after we opened the card from my wonderfully thoughtful sister, I spent the next hour reading up on who they are and what they do. They are fascinating and I am in love with their awesome mission!
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Heifer’s Wikipedia page first told me that “Heifer International is a non-profit working to eradicate poverty and hunger through sustainable, values-based holistic community development. Heifer distributes animals, along with agricultural and values-based training, to families in need around the world as a means of providing self-sufficiency. Recipients must agree to ‘pass on the gift’ by sharing animal offspring, as well as the skills and knowledge of animal husbandry and agricultural training with other impoverished families. Based in Little Rock, Arkansas, Heifer International started with a shipment of 17 heifers to Puerto Rico in 1944. Since then, they have distributed livestock such as goats, bees, and water buffalo, along with training and other resources, to 20.7 million families, or more than 105.1 million people in more than 125 countries.”
Further research on Heifer’s website told me about the different animals they send to families and communities in need around the world – including goat, heifer, camel, water buffalo, llama, sheep, pig, fish fingerlings, rabbits, honeybees, ducks, chicks, geese or ‘gift baskets’ that contain particular combinations of the animals above. Some of the animals help fertilize land, others help clear and cultivate land, others help with harvesting, and others serve as a reliable, strong mode of transportation. Some of the animals produce nutrient-rich milk, eggs, cheese, butter, yogurt, and other dairy products for hungry families, while others produce wool (clothing, sale, trade, etc.), or many offspring that can be sold for money for school fees and medicine, or traded for other food. Some of the animals are better suited for harsh, dry, unpredictable climates – like the African Sahara or parts of Asia – while others work well in wet farmlands. And depending on where the family lives and what resources they need the most, Heifer International sends them animals to care for that will help them out of hunger and poverty as they become self-sufficient.
But they don’t just send the animals. They also include resources and training to teach people how to properly feed and care for the animals, give tools and medicines to keep the animals happy and healthy, teach the recipient’s how to use the animals as a resource to do many other things, and train them in veterinarian health, animal husbandry, breeding, and nutrition practices. Once an individual is equipped with these skills, this training also serves as a possible career – another way to increase a family’s income and self-sufficiency. Additional gifts, other than animals, that you can purchase and donate include community animal health worker kit and training, clean water (water pump installation), stoves for a village, a healthy home kit that contains materials to help families build safe, sanitary shelters, irrigation pumps, trees and seeds, and various gift baskets that help families with sustainable farming and that empower women (such as sending a girl to school, helping women build careers, learn trades, and start businesses, self-help groups, etc.). And, of course, you can also choose to “give where needed most.”
What I love the most about this organization is that they don’t just provide the animals or stoves or water pumps, but that they also provide the tools, resources, and training so that the family can truly feel empowered on the road to self-sufficiency. Giving a family in need some food one time is helpful, but giving a family in need a means of continually feeding themselves and knowledge so that they can use their gift not just as food, but also as a source of income with which to buy or trade for other food, clothing, shelter, medicine, and education is great. And the very best part is the families who receive these gifts agree to ‘pass it on’ to others in their community by sharing the animals offspring, as well as the resources and training or skills they have learned, so eventually, the hope is that the entire community can be self-sufficient. And through all of this they try to install the values of sustainable farming and responsible care for the animals and the environment.
I’d encourage everyone to spend some time on their website. The donation of an animal or other basic essential in someone’s honor makes a really thoughtful, exciting, and surprising gift for someone’s birthday or a holiday. It’s a gift that makes the world a better place, helps others in need, and keeps on giving – perfect for that person with a big heart or that person who already “has everything.” I’d love to be able to buy one thing (animal, basic necessity, or farming essential) from their ‘gift catalog’ every single year – eventually working my way up to the larger donations, like a whole ark or menagerie of animals, if I could afford to do so.
Do you have a charity that has impressed you this year?
