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.

Around the Web: A Big Goal, Study Trip, Celebrity Tips, and Kissing a Pig

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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.

Patrick Rothfuss, author and brainpower behind Worldbuilders, which is fundraising with auctions and giveaways. Exciting opportunities include a chance to join him on a weekend visit to Heifer Ranch, a chance to play Dungeons & Dragons with Pat and other authors, and much more. This year’s Worldbuilders is quickly coming to an end, so you’ll want to check out his blog and help him reach his $500,000 goal to benefit Heifer International
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Sara Steinlage carries firewood as part of her chores in Mpomgwe, Zambia. Photo credit: Sara Steinlage, Northwest Arkansas Online.

Sara Steinlage accompanied the Go Women Go Community group last November on a 12-day trip that included some Heifer International projects in Kenya and Zambia.

Congrats to Ben Magod on receiving the Bill Lee Scholarship given to student athletes with academic, athletic and civic accomplishments. Magod is a youth elder at First Presbyterian Church and has participated in mission trips to Heifer Ranch as well as Belize and Atlanta.

Photo credit: Livingston County News

For the fifth year in a row, St. Agnes School in New York raised money to buy livestock through Heifer International for needy families. This year, they raised enough to buy four to five water buffalo, which plow, haul and provide milk. As an encore, Principal Dr. Gerald Benjamin kissed a pig, a water buffalo being unavailable, and the sixth graders chose green, purple and gold to dye his hair.

Health Magazine talks about celebrities and the steps—big and small—they take to protect the planet. Longtime Heifer supporters Mary Steenburgen and Jane Kaczmarek are both featured: Steenburgen for her line of soy candles that benefit Heifer International, and Kaczmarek for being frugal at home by turning out the lights and opening windows instead of using the air-conditioner.

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Around the Web: Student Fundraisers, Homemade Jewelry

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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.

“Los Alamos Middle School teacher Dana Kline and her hawks soar to new heights raising funds to benefit others through reading” in Heifer’s Read to Feed progam, where they earned $453.65 to purchase one llama, one pig, one flock each of ducks, geese and chickens, two hives of bees and three rabbits.

Photo credit: The Sun

One club at Osceola Intermediate School is knitting a path to social responsibility. During the club’s inaugural year, the club made a fleece blanket and auctioned it off to raise money for Heifer International and local food shelves. Since then, the Social Responsibility Club has become so popular they had to limit enrollment to just fifth graders.

Thanks to the efforts of Falling Spring Elementary School fifth-graders this month, and an idea from student Brynn Kegerreis, $360 was raised to purchase a sheep, goat and pig through Heifer International. When Kegerreis’ goal of $250 was passed, teacher Doug Shatzer  dressed up like a cow and handed out ice cream to students. ”What amazed me the most is that Brynn came up with it all on her own,” said Shatzer. “She organized it, kept track of the money and put together the progress.”

If you like homemade jewelry, check out this story about The Gold Trout, which carries jewelry made by the owner’s 16-year-old niece; 100 percent of the proceeds go to Heifer International.

Photo credit: Plymouth-Canton Patch

South Canton Scholars Charter Academy students raised $297 for Heifer International through Holiday Dress Day. The student council decided to buy a flock of chicks, a sheep, a goat and a boost of nutrition package to help people around the globe.

Arellanes Junior High School students have participated in holiday charity projects to help end world hunger, gather food for a local food drive and create beanies for babies and adults with disabilities. This year they raised more than $400 in about three weeks for Heifer International, organized a food drive for a local foodbank, and created more than 400 hand-made beanies for a maternity ward.

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Celebrate The New Year With Confetti Eggs

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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 we’ll show you how to make confetti eggs to help ring in the New Year with lots of color.

confetti eggs

Photo credit: Radmegan: In Words and Pictures

Materials:

  • Eggs
  • Wrapping paper scraps
  • Scissors
  • Markers
  • Tissue
  • Glue
  • Bowl

Tap the top of your egg with the scissors, and gently chip away a little hole, about the size of a dime, at the top of the egg. Pour the egg yolks and whites into a bowl to save. Continue making tiny holes in the eggs and empty their contents in the bowl. Cover the bowl and put it in the refrigerator.

Gently rinse the eggshells with warm water. Shake out any liquid from the shells, and place them back in the carton. Put the carton somewhere warm, like a bright windowsill, or on top of the oven, to allow the eggs to dry.

Pick out some leftover wrapping paper; the more colorful the better. If the color isn’t on both sides of the paper, color the white side with markers in colorful patterns. To make the confetti, cut the paper in small square pieces with your scissors, or you can use a hole-punch. Cut above a bowl so the pieces fall into the bowl. Use a variety of wrapping papers and markers to make your confetti as colorful as possible.

Once the eggs are dry, you can decorate the eggshells with your markers (or Easter egg dye, glitter, paint etc.) Once all of the eggs are decorated, stuff each egg to the brim with your recycled wrapping paper confetti.

Next, take the tissue paper and decorate it. Put a thin line of glue around the hole in the eggshell, and press the tissue paper down and around the hole so it seals the hole of the egg. Let the eggs dry in their carton.

Once dry, the confetti eggs are ready to use. Throw them down at midnight and enjoy the burst of color. Happy New Year!

Plenty of Heifer project participants use eggs every day to improve their family’s healthy food consumption and generate income.

Andi Ndreka, 5, holds up eggs gathered from the chicken coop on the family farm in the village of Shelqeti, Albania. Photo by David Snyder, courtesy of Heifer International.

Donate to help impoverished families have eggs every day with chickens, ducks or geese today.

For more information on this activity, or more fun and creative ideas, go to Radmegan: In Words and Pictures.

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Year-End Gifts Ease Your Tax Burden

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year-end gifts

Image courtesy of clipart.com

As the end of the calendar year approaches, it’s time to round out your charitable contributions for the tax year, and Heifer International urges you to include the struggle against hunger and poverty in your philanthropic efforts.

You may already know the joy of including Heifer International animal gifts in your holiday giving. Heifer International uses tools like livestock to bring self-reliance to struggling families, but these projects consist of more than just an animal. Training in animal care, Earth-friendly agriculture, and gender equity all provide the foundation for lasting change.

That’s why a year-end donation to Heifer International represents a sound investment in the improvement of our world. Your gift will multiply, because every family receiving a Heifer International animal promises to Pass on the Gift of their animal’s first offspring to another family nearby.

Passing on the Gift in Bangladesh

Passing on the Gift ceremony in Bangladesh. Photo by Geoff Bugbee, courtesy of Heifer International

Heifer International’s model of creating enduring transformation in its project communities is known to be an effective solution to poverty, not just a one-time Band-Aid. Donating to Heifer International as part of your tax planning makes you a part of that solution. And Heifer is a reputable charity where your funds will be used responsibly; Charity Navigator, for example rates Heifer with three out of four stars.

Charitable donations to Heifer International are tax-deductible when you itemize deductions on your tax return, but hurry to make your contribution by December 31, 2012.

To see our full gift catalog, visit www.heifer.org/catalog.

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Around the Web: Christmas Budgets, Awesome Fundraisers, Spirit of Giving

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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.

Jack Topchik shares some one-liners in this article, Savor Life, including one he got from an ad campaign, that can seem especially timely this time of year, including ”If your cup runneth over, spill some.”

Family finances may be forcing smaller Christmas budgets, but moms are hoping the changes they are planning this year will be a chance for something more meaningful for their families.

Daniel Dreifuss/Staff Bethany Hester holds her two-year-old son Asher as they hang homemade ornaments on their Christmas tree in their Orcutt home. Photo credit: Santa Maria Times/Daniel Dreifuss

Photo credit: Denver Post

Author and long-time Heifer supporter Patrick Rothfuss and his non-profit Worldbuilders has raised more than $1 million for Heifer International! This year’s Worldbuilders fundraiser runs through January 18, and all proceeds go to Heifer.

Andean trekking specialist Llama Expeditions is donating a llama through Heifer International and inviting kindhearted adventure travelers to join them this holiday season.

This lead definitely caught my eye: “Culinary arts students at Rocky Hill High School are doing their part to end world hunger.” These kids created and baked gingerbread houses to auction them off to benefit Heifer.

Here’s an interesting fundraiser: People bid on the opportunity to play Dungeons & Dragons with eight accomplished authors next January, including Patrick Rothfuss, who is mentioned above. All the proceeds go to Worldbuilders, the fundraising organization that gives its money to Heifer International.

Read about this mom’s quest to share the spirit of giving with her kids, despite a little bit of resistance. Luckily, her boys are fond of Heifer and the concrete idea of using their money to buy a flock of chicks to provide for a family.

Bates Creative Group, who partnered with Heifer to create our World Ark tablet magazine app, wrote a blog post all about it: Stop the Insanity With Innovation.

Who couldn’t help but read this story: HELPING HOOVES A Flying Moose Gifts Water Buffalo to Third World Family?

Gift Guides/Gift Ideas/Charities Lists
Thank you to all who mentioned Heifer in gift guides and in their charity lists. Here are some we came across this past week:

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Bees: A Sweet, Sustainable Gift

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Photo courtesy of Heifer International

Like many of the gifts available in the Heifer catalog, bees offer several advantages to the beneficiary, to the environment, and to neighboring farmers. Best of all, they are very sustainable. All in all, they exemplify Heifer’s mission of fighting hunger and poverty while caring for the Earth.

One of Heifer’s most important elements is that we believe development must be sustainable−that projects should be long-term investments in the future of people and the planet. Not only do bees supply honey for consumption and added income for participants, they pollinate a wide area around their hives, improving the environment. The cultivation of honey-yielding plants increases biodiversity and improves the quality of bee products. This is an enterprise that can sustain itself.

bees

Photo courtesy of Heifer International

As bees search for nectar, they pollinate plants. Placed strategically, beehives can as much as double some fruit and vegetable production. Although most Heifer partners keep bees as a supplement to family income, beekeeping can be a family’s livelihood. Your gift can help Heifer provide a family with a package of bees, the box and hive plus training in beekeeping−and of course this unique gift will be passed on to another family in need.

Much has been in the news about the danger of bees becoming extinct. If this were to happen, the agriculture systems we need to produce food to feed the world would be seriously compromised. Heifer projects work hard to prevent this in regions around the world, such as this one: Honey–Yielding Plants for Bee Breeders in the Carpathian Region of Poland.

Donate bees in someone’s honor today. You will be helping a family lift themselves out of poverty and caring for the Earth at the same time. What a sweet, sustainable gift.

bees

Rafael Morales of Honduras can't resist the taste of honey! Photo courtesy of Heifer International

This post is part of our What to Give series, where we’re helping you choose the best Heifer gift for your loved ones. Read previous What to Give posts here, and subscribe to the What to Give series here.

Still don’t know what to give? Check out our entire online Gift Catalog.

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Around the Web: Kids With a Cause, Tikkun Olam and Holiday Lists

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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.

You’ll be impressed by 12-year-old Ryan Bell, who’s made a goal of raising $25,000 for Heifer’s Gift of Transformation. Ryan was born with Treacher Collins syndrome, a cranio-facial disorder. He sees the Gift of Transformation as a reflection of his own year of transformation, which has been full of extensive surgeries. NOTE: We are excited to share that Ryan has reached his lofty goal, but let’s see if we can help get him even further!

Ryan Bell and his sister, Meghan. Photo credit: New Haven Register

Thanks to the Congregation Shomrei Torah, who is promoting donations to Heifer this Hanukkah: “We’re really looking to help people around the world. In Hebrew we call it Tikkun Olam, which means ‘repairing the world.’”

Lucinda and Clara Becker manned a booth sponsored by Laguna Presbyterian Church to benefit Heifer International. They brought their own pet chickens to bring attention to their booth, and according to reports, it worked.

Clara and Lucinda Becker and their pet chickens. Photo Credit: Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot

Gift Guides/Gift Ideas/Charities Lists
Thank you to all who mentioned Heifer in gift guides and in their charity lists this past week. Here are some we came across:

 

 

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A Healthy Home Is Key to Healthy Living

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A healthy home is a big step on the path to healthy living, and it is a key component of Heifer International projects. Not only does the increased income our families see allow for money to be spent on much-needed improvements to their homes, Heifer includes trainings to teach the needed skills and facilitates camaraderie that often results in participants helping each other complete tasks that would otherwise seem out of the question.

As I was writing this blog and looking through the project photos, I was struck by the differences in the homes around the world. I love that Heifer doesn’t go in and change this cultural uniqueness, but adapts. A healthier, happier home is the goal.


When you give a Heifer gift, it’s not just a cow, or a goat, or even a llama. It’s a new way of life filled with hope and promise. It leads to healthy living where there was once a struggle for basic survival. Food, water and shelter are all important to healthy living, and all are components of Heifer International projects.

healthy home

A noticeable improvement in the Pacoricona's kitchen before and after.

Take the Pacoriconas, for example. They live in Peru near Puno and Lake Titicaca, and are part of a Healthy Homes initiative that trains and distributes supplies to improve the living conditions of participating families. The Pacoriconas first built a model of their home and went through trainings, then started construction. Today they have a new house with an improved kitchen, refrigerator, neatly organized bedrooms, a tool shed and an outhouse, as well as spaces inside the house to maintain their personal hygiene and study. An animal shelter and family garden were also added. Imagine this being accomplished in entire communities. This will undoubtedly allow those participating to enjoy more healthy living.

Donate to help families afford healthy living conditions. This gift will support projects that give families the opportunities to earn the income they need for healthy living by purchasing roofing materials, bricks, concrete for floors and so much more.

This post is part of our What to Give series, where we’re helping you choose the best Heifer gift for your loved ones. Read previous What to Give posts here, and subscribe to the What to Give series here.

Still don’t know what to give? Check out our entire online Gift Catalog.

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Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

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Why did the chicken cross the road? To meet up with the duck and goose on their way to ending hunger and poverty around the world, of course. That may not be how you remember the story, but it is happening every day thanks to generous donors like you.

Photo courtesy of Heifer International

Rudik, a 12-year-old and the “man of the family” since his father died several years ago, learned how to run a business and take care of chickens as a member of Heifer’s Yes! Youth Clubs in Armenia. Now he has a growing chicken farm and dreams of providing his mother and sister with ever comfort of a happy life.

Huynh Van Thong, 11 year old, holds a duck in the Tan Hung Commune of Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Heifer International.

Sarom Chou and her husband live with their four children in Cambodia. They once depended on rice to live, but it was never enough. They now raise ducks and chickens. They use the manure for compost, improving their land quality and crop production, and use the increased crop production to feed their animals. It’s a win-win. Sarom said, “Before joining the project, we only had income from our small grocery shop, but now we have diversified income from homestead gardening and poultry that keeps increasing. We have enough money to invest in our children’s education.”

source: www.incredibleegg.org

Chickens, duck and geese provide many benefits including manure and additional income, as mentioned above; but even more important for the families now eating more eggs are the vitamins and protein they are receiving. As you can see in the chart, you can’t beat the protein from eggs.

Eggs contain all the essential protein, minerals and vitamins, except Vitamin C. Egg yolks are one of few foods that naturally contain Vitamin D. Eggs also contain choline, which is necessary for healthy cell membranes in the body. Choline stimulates brain development and function and helps preserve memory. Eggs also are good for your eyes because they contain lutein, which helps prevents age-related cataracts and muscular degeneration. In fact, eggs contain more lutein than spinach and other green vegetables.

And who doesn’t love eggs?

Photo courtesy of Heifer International

Donate to help impoverished families have eggs every day with chickens, ducks or geese today.

Protein-packed eggs from these small animals can make a life-saving difference. Imagine what a flock can do.

This post is part of our What to Give series, where we’re helping you choose the best Heifer gift for your loved ones. Read previous What to Give posts here, and subscribe to the What to Give series here.

Still don’t know what to give? Check out our entire online Gift Catalog.

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Around the Web: Gifts, an Inspired Book, and Some Cool Cows

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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.

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Nicholas Kristof says you can look to Heifer International for an unusual holiday gift in his recent post on the New York Times, Gifts That Change Lives.

For more unique gift ideas for the person who has everything, check out this blog post on Nanny Babysitter, 10 Alternative Gifts for the Person Who Has Everything.

Photo credit: Hartford Courant

Teresa Pelham bought a sheep (through Heifer International, of course) instead of “Large Plastic Items We Do Not Need,” and writes about it in the very entertaining Mommy Minute.

DJ Maht Wuyts will be playing music for 26.2 hours straight December 8 & 9 in this unique Mahrathon fundraiser for Heifer International. Rock on, Maht!

Moment magazine highlights our new Heifer at Hanukkah campaign with a post that starts simply: If you are still looking for an interesting Hanukkah gift this year, consider a goat.

Catholic San Francisco lists Heifer among the options in their story, A goat for Christmas? Options for non-consumerist gifts.

Photo credit: Iowa City Press-Citizen

Artist Marcia Wegman recently finished a book that includes paintings and stories inspired by a trip to Latvia to see Heifer International projects. “I hope (the book) raises an awareness about what Heifer does and what a difference they make in the lives of people in these countries,” she said. “And also shows people what a wonderful, beautiful part of the world it is.”

The Face of Malawi tells the story of Yohane Machira, a farmer who has a life full of optimism since he started raising goats he received from Heifer, despite his being HIV positive.

Photo credit: Abby Fortney, courtesy of vitamintalent.com

Vitamin T bought a few cows to help families send their kids to school, buy medicine and clothes, and improve their land. Read their entertaining post here.

Here’s some advice from Janet Bodnar on teaching kids to budget this season: Money Power: Kids can get financial education from holidays.

Heifer was also listed first in Forbes’ The A-List: What’s Hot for December 2012!

 

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