Author Archives: Linda Meyers

About Linda Meyers

Linda Meyers, an Arkansas transplant originally from St. Louis, Mo., started working at Heifer International in 2011. She enjoys dragging her three children on nature hikes and snapping photos of them and everything around her. She has a bachelor’s degree in English has been “in the process” of writing the great American novel for 24 years.

A Person is a Person No Matter How Small

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Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. Today is Dr. Suess’s birthday and Read Across America Day, so I thought it was fitting to highlight one of my favorite Dr. Suess books, Horton Hears a Who, and this activity I found on suessville.com.

Dr. Suess

Photo credit: suessville.com

Not only is Horton Hears a Who entertaining, like so many of Dr. Suess’s  books it also has an inspiring moral: “A person’s a person no matter how small.” This goes along great with Heifer’s mission of helping the world’s poor and our 12 Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development.

If you don’t happen to have the book or movie on hand, you can find a great synopsis of the plot on Wikipedia. In short, Horton (an elephant) hears a small speck of dust talking and learns that it is actually a tiny planet home to the Whos who live in Whoville. They are in danger of being destroyed, and Horton wants to help. He agrees, proclaiming, “even though you can’t see or hear them at all, a person’s a person, no matter how small.” Horton is laughed at for this and no one will help. Finally, the Whos are loud enough to be heard by others, and they are saved.

This activity, A Person’s a Person, No Matter How Small—So share a good deed that made you feel tall! (found on www.suessville.com) suggests having a  discussion about what your kids have done to help someone in their family, school or community. 

What did they do? How did they help? After talking about it, have the kids draw a picture of their good deed or write something about what they did. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Did they:

  • Help Mom or Dad with chores?
  • Volunteer in the community?
  • Baby-sit for a little brother or sister?
  • Send a card to cheer up a friend?
  • Recycle and help the environment?

I also found a lesson plan with more interesting questions if you want to go deeper:

  1. What did Horton do that was so important?
  2. How do you think it made the Whos feel that Horton cared so much?
  3. What would have happened to the Whos if Horton didn’t protect them?
  4. What was the lesson of this story?
  5. What does, “a person’s a person no matter how small” mean?
  6. Have you ever done a good deed for someone else? How did it make them feel? How did it make you feel?
Ryan Bell

Ryan Bell and his sister, Meghan.

When I think about Horton helping so many on that tiny planet, I am reminded of 12-year-old Ryan Bell, who is doing all he can to spread the word and get others involved in helping Heifer project participants around our planet. If you like the story of Horton hearing the Who, you’ll love reading about Ryan, who is getting the world to hear him, recently raised $30,000 for Heifer International.

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Around the Web: Students of All Ages Giving in Creative Ways, and an Easter Egg Hunt

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Every Sunday we highlight some of the people who are funding our work creatively or helping us spread the word of our mission online. If you spot Heifer International while you’re surfing the web or know of a fun or creative fundraising effort, please share it with us here in the comments.

Swipe Out Starvation

Photo credit: The Living Principles

Now this is a great idea:  Swipe Out Starvation, started by students, gives students the choice to allocate unused food allowance credits to hunger-relief efforts instead of buying unnecessary items just to use up their credits before they expire. Purdue tried the program for a week in 2011, and within five days, and $1,300 was donated to a local food bank and Heifer International.

If you are around the Chattanooga, Tennessee, area on March 24, be sure to attend St. Luke UMC’s Easter Egg Hunt to benefit Heifer.

I came across this story of Dr. Camille DeClementi, who paid off her student loan payments in 2011 and decided to use that money in 2012 to donate $50 to a different charity each month, including Heifer International.

Livestock Market

Photo credit: examinar.com

The children and youth of St. Thomas More held a livestock market to share with parishioners the gifts each animal provides when you give through Heifer. Booths were set up in the parish hall to share how pigs, sheep, goats, llamas, rabbits, chickens, honeybees, water buffalo, trees and heifers can help the rural poor throughout the world. Those attending were asked to donate the full price or funds toward the purchase of livestock or tree seedlings.

Forest Park Elementary

Photo credit: todaysthv.com

“Last year in Mrs Riley’s class, we bought a goat. This year I think we can buy something bigger. How about a heifer?” This comment from a 4th grader at Forest Park Elementary, right here in Little Rock (where Heifer International headquarters lives), sparked a classroom project that will change a family’s life.

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Make Your Own Model Water Well

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Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. This week, I had the opportunity to talk with Francis Bouba-Dalambaye, country director for Heifer Senegal. He talked about the very difficult dry season farmers in his country face, leaving them without a food source for two to three months a year. Heifer is working to teach these farmers about drought-resistant agriculture including improved animal breeds and plants, as well as working to provide safer and more abundant water. This got me thinking about water supplies and how people would get water in drier or more rural climates, and I came across this activity to help kids understand how people get water from wells.

Create Your own Water Well

Model Well

Photo credit: education.com

Materials:

  • Cardboard toilet paper tube
  • Large, empty coffee can
  • Gravel (like from a fish or pet store)
  • Sand
  • Water

Stand the toilet paper tube in the center of the bottom of the coffee can. Hold the tube steady and pour a layer of the gravel around the bottom outside edge (not inside the tube), making the gravel layer about 2″ deep. Pour a layer of sand on top of the gravel. Some of the sand will fill gaps in the gravel; the rest will build up to make another layer, which should be about 1½” deep. Make sure no sand gets inside the tube. After pouring the sand, about ½” of the cardboard tube should still be sticking up above the sand and gravel. (The sand and gravel layers represent the soil and the tube represents the well.)

Now it’s time to see how wells get their water. What do you think will happen when you add water to the sand and gravel? Pour water onto the sand and gravel (NOT into the tube), continuing until the water level reaches the very top of the sand layer.

Keep your eye on the the tube. What happens?

Where is the water in the well coming from? How does the water get inside the well? How is this miniature well related to real-life wells? Why is it important to be aware of what we put in our soil?

Find out more about this activity and how it relates to real-life wells.

Read about a current Heifer project in Senegal in World Ark online.

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Around the Web: Kissing a Goat, Spare Change, and Bees for Bach

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Every Sunday we highlight some of the people who are funding our work creatively or helping us spread the word of our mission online. If you spot Heifer International while you’re surfing the web or know of a fun or creative fundraising effort, please share it with us here in the comments.

Goat kissing

Photo credit: Mike Haskey, Ledger-Enquirer

Administrators and faculty at the St. Luke School in Columbus, Ohio, kissed Lilly the goat Friday, rewarding the students for raising more than $2,000 in January for Heifer International. The project was one of the school’s many mission efforts each year, which have benefited a variety of local, state and international organizations.

Lakewood FFA

Photo credit: clintonnc.com

North Carolina’s Lakewood FFA members collected spare change to support Heifer International, raising more than $300. They chose to purchase a pig, honeybees, two flocks of chickens, a goat, and the agricultural education needed to care for and manage these resources.

Big Bag Lunch

Photo credit: The Hour Online

J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences oboe and voice students will perform in the “Bees for Bach” concert, a fundraiser for Heifer International, on Sunday, Feb. 17, at Good Shepard Lutheran Church in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Every year the first-grade classes at Columbus Magnet School in Connecticut hold Big Bag Lunch, a market for the entire school community, held in the first-grade hallway. It is the culmination of a social studies class on farming and a science class on parts of a plant, with math integrated into the market as students weigh produce, inventory items, and count money. For the second year in a row, students sold reusable grocery bags designed by students on the design committee to promote environmental awareness and to raise money for Heifer International.

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Creatively Recycle Your Valentine’s Cards

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Recycled Valentine Basket

Photo credit: Pink and Green Mama

Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. Valentine’s Day has passed, and I bet you’re wondering what to do with those old Valentine’s cards besides just pitching them in the trash. Here are a few ideas, including this very creative recycled basket.

Recycled Valentine’s Day Card Basket

Materials You’ll Need:

  • Template (downloadable)
  • 14 used Valentine’s cards
  • White glue
  • Hole punch or something to poke holes with
  • Yarn or embroidery thread (in Valentine’s colors)
  • Fat embroidery needle or crochet hook (optional)
  • Scissors
Making a Basket

Photo credit: Pink and Green Mama

Trace the template on the cards: 12 side pieces and 2 bottom pieces, centering the best parts of the cards. Glue two sides together with the graphics facing outward on each side, including the two bottom pieces. Use a hole punch to punch sewing holes evenly (about 1/4 inch apart) around the edges of each piece. Sew the side pieces to the bottom, and finally sew the sides together.

For more information on this basket, go to pinkandgreenmama.blogspot.com and allfreecrafts.com.

Or, find out how to make a recycled Valentine’s necklace, decorations, postcards, placemats, refrigerator magnets and gift tags.

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Around the Web: Inspired by a Goat, 40 Days to Give

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Every Sunday we highlight some of the people who are funding our work creatively or helping us spread the word of our mission online. If you spot Heifer International while you’re surfing the web or know of a fun or creative fundraising effort, please share it with us here in the comments.

Kids making signs

Photo credit: A Yellow Springs Blog

The kids at First Presbyterian Yellow Springs are inviting you to a Pancake Supper fundraiser on February 12, with donations going to Heifer International. If you like wheat, gluten-free or blueberry pancakes and boiled Yellow Spring eggs you won’t want to miss out!

During Lent, members at St. Andrews United Methodist Church in Mottville, NY, will save coins to donate to Heifer International. “We’re going to have 40 days to give up to give back,” Rev. Val White said. “At every meal, you put a coin in the bank. If it’s pennies, that’s fine. If every family member puts in a penny, that’s going to be a good amount after 40 days to give.”

Beatrice's Goat

Beatrice’s Goat

The diversity club at Eagle Heights Elementary School is tackling everything from bullying to poverty and hunger. They started the year out with a bake sale, inspired to help Heifer International after reading the book Beatrice’s Goat. The students made all the goodies to sell at school and raised enough to buy two goats and a beehive.

The students at Dogwood Elementary are collecting pledges, reading books and buying animals as part of Heifer International’s Read to Feed Program. In fact, they raised enough to buy three-plus Arks full of animals. Watch the video of the news report on wreg.com.

This Valentine’s Day, Roz Warren is thinking outside the box this year and tells us to Say It With Chickens in this entertaining blog post.

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Simply Elegant Valentines Decorations

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Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. With Valentine’s Day approaching, I thought this was a very fitting activity. 

Heart Craft

Photo credit: www.sillysimpleliving.com

This heart garland valentines craft is an easy activity that will produce a festive decoration both simple and elegant.

Materials You Will Need: 

  • Newspaper
  • Pink card stock or construction paper
  • Scissors
  • Glue Stick
  • Paper Clips
  • Hot Glue
  • Heart templates; one big and one little (make your own or use these)
  • Twine or string

Print and cut out the templates. You can use regular paper, but if you are making a big garland with lots of pieces, or you are working with kids you might consider creating templates from card stock. Take a half-page of newspaper and fold it in half, then fold it in half again. Trace your large template twice onto the newspaper, then cut the hearts out, making sure you are cutting through all the paper layers. Repeat this process with your pink paper and the smaller template. Glue the pink hearts onto the middle of each newspaper heart. Use hot glue and a bent paper clip to make the hanger for the back. Hang a piece of twine where you would like your garland to go, and then add each heart to the twine.

For more details on this or other activities, go to www.sillysimpleliving.com.

Looking for a gift for your loved ones this Valentine’s Day? Check out our special selection of Valentine’s Day gift ideas to find just the right one.

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Around the Web: Souper Fundraising Idea, Seagoing Cowboy and a Birthday Llama

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Every Sunday we highlight some of the people who are funding our work creatively or helping us spread the word of our mission online. If you spot Heifer International while you’re surfing the web or know of a fun or creative fundraising effort, please share it with us here in the comments.

Photo credit: Kathy Keidel, The Chaffee County Times

The Chaffee County Times has an interesting read about one of Heifer’s “seagoing cowboys” in 1945-46, Les Messamer. He traveled to Shanghi and New Zealand on behalf of Heifer delivering milk cows to orphanages and other organizations.

Faith United Church in International Falls, Minnesota, is having The Souper Bowl of Caring today, with a free will offering going to Heifer International and cans of soup donated to Falls Hunger Coalition Food Shelf. We think that’s a “souper” idea!

Tim Deatrick got a new llama for his birthday, which he named George and will be going to help a Heifer International participant family in a poverty stricken village, and he talked about it on social media and in his blog.

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Make a Pop-Up Groundhog Puppet

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Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. Tomorrow is Groundhog’s Day, so naturally I chose a simple activity that shows you how to make a groundhog puppet.

Photo credit: strasburg-sam.com

Groundhogs are cute, but it’s no secret they have a bad reputation for digging up yards and farms. Their burrows can be very large, with up to 45 feet of tunnels as far as five feet underground. But groundhogs do have a beneficial role, too. The soil is improved with all that digging, because more air and water goes underground to break down the dirt for more valuable topsoil. And abandoned dens and burrows become homes to other animals like foxes and skunks, who aid farmers by getting rid of harmful smaller rodents and damaging insects.

Groundhog Puppet Materials:

  • Paper cup
  • Popsicle stick
  • Brown construction paper, or white paper that has been colored brown
  • Crayons or markers
  • Scissors
  • Glue

Images from enchantedlearning.com

Cut a circle or oval from the brown construction paper for the groundhog’s body, making sure it will fit in the cup. Cut a smaller circle out of the brown paper for the head. Glue the two pieces together and draw eyes on the head. Glue your groundhog to one end of the stick. Cut a slit as the bottom of the cup and decorate the cup with greens and browns. Insert the bottom of the stick into the hole, and you now have a pop-up groundhog puppet!

For more activities, go to www.enchantedlearning.com.

To read the latest on Heifer activities around the world, check out our From the Field sections, with stories from our international offices.

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Around the Web: Ceramic Bowls, Ornaments and Weaving for a Great Cause

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Every Sunday we highlight some of the people who are funding our work creatively or helping us spread the word of our mission online. If you spot Heifer International while you’re surfing the web or know of a fun or creative fundraising effort, please share it with us here in the comments.

Art students at Cretin-Derham Hall and Nativity of Our Lord Elementary School in St. Paul, Minnesota, will be selling their handmade ceramic bowls at the annual Empty Bowls Benefit on Feb. 6. Proceeds from the event will go to Heifer International.

Holy Apostles Youth Group. Photo credit: The Post-Journal

Many thanks to The Holy Apostles Youth Group, who donated to Heifer International, purchasing shares in chicks, pigs and llamas.

Mom blogger Meagan Paullin says her favorite nonprofit is Heifer International, according to Babble Voices post: 17 Mom Bloggers Share Their Favorite Nonprofits to Support in 2013. She said, “I love the way Heifer International helps build up a whole community. Instead of just giving people food because they’re hungry – they bring in chickens, teach them to raise them, give them the resources that they need. Then they have eggs to eat, or to sell. They can breed and raise more chickens, to feed their family. Then, after they grow enough, they are able to give a small herd of chickens to the next family in their community.”

The St. Bernard’s Art Club for Charity surpassed its goal of raising enough money to buy a water buffalo through Heifer International. In fact, they raised $370 from selling their Christmas ornaments and weaving in November and December, and decided on two shares in a sheep, one share in a pig, one share in a trio of rabbits and a flock of chicks in addition to the water buffalo.

Students at Trinity Episcopal Day School are in the middle of their “change for change” fundraising project for Heifer International. Grades are competing to see who can raise the most funds; the 8th graders are in the lead as of January 17 with $106, but it’s still wide open with and end date of February 14. Simply put by 10th grader Alex Miller, “It’s always good to help other people.”

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