Category Archives: Series

How To Give Instead of Spending

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If you’ve been looking for a way to spend less and give more, there’s an app for that. it’s called Instead. It helps you see how your small daily purchases can add up to make big change in the world.

“Instead is a new micro-donation app for nonprofits that enourages people to live within or below their means in order to give.”

How does it work? Well, it’s simple.

1. You decide what you want to start to give up. Maybe your daily take-out coffee habit? Or decide to go out to eat less.

2. Next, you decide how much you want to donate.

Give up your daily $4 takeout coffee habit during the week? Then give that money INSTEAD to a charity (think Heifer).

3. Choose your nonprofit. You will see a list to choose from, but I recommend you choose Heifer!

4. After you pick your nonprofit, the app asks for your name and credit card number.

This is safe and secure through their security platform. 

5. You give instead of spending.

Change the world a little at a time, starting today.

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Weekly Article Roundup: Creating a Commitment for Food Security

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As an organization, we are committed to working to end hunger and poverty while caring for the Earth. This also includes committing to providing a long-term sustainable solution for food security to our projects worldwide.

In the United States, we’re working in the Delta and Appalachia to provide resources and training for farmers to begin providing for their family and community. Take a look at these articles regarding our Seeds of Change project and poverty in the U.S.

We are also excited to hear President Obama and the G8 commitment to food security. Heifer CEO, Pierre Ferrari wrote a post today regarding how we welcome their announcement today that brings private and public sectors together to make a difference in Africa.

Roger Thurow, senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global affairs wrote a post on how the benefit to reaching women farmers on HuffPost Impact. 

To follow along to the G8 summit, check out the Global Agriculture Development Initiative here, or follow on Twitter with hashtag #GlobalAg. 

 

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Don’t Be a Rat, Unpack!

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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 National Pack Rat Day and like pack rats, some of us tend to collect more belongings than we really need. Here at Heifer International we encourage people to practice Sharing and Caring, one of Heifer’s 12 Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development. If you’ve got some things to unpack, here are a few options to lighten your load.

Pack Rat

Photo credit: oddlovescompany.com

  1. Hold a Clothing Swap
    Donating old clothing is helpful, but a swap can make a more direct impact in your neighborhood or organization. Ask participants to bring a few articles of clothing and then have fun haggling over the trades. A swap can also be done with shoes, toys and books.
  2. Upcycle With Style
    Old T-shirts for quilt squares, abandoned toys as planters and plastic grocery bags to make trash cans-Pinterest is filled with DIY intructions. Inventive minds are a powerful tool in caring for the earth. Before you recycle, try to find ways to upcycle the weary and worn things in your cluttered closets.
  3. Give Your Time
    If you have a “load” of time on your hands, why not use it to help others organize their abundant belongings? Or, use it in other meaningful ways like taking a meal to new parents, offering to walk your elderly neighbor’s dog or care for the Earth by picking up trash.

Through cooperation and friendship, there are many ways to share and care. Be creative and get involved in your community. Small acts of kindness will spread, building a large network of giving to Pass on the Gift® of hope, unity and friendship.

Learn how you can spend meaningful time at Heifer

 

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Incredible Mothers of Rwanda

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Rwanda Mothers

Photo courtesy of Heifer International

In African villages where Heifer International’s mission has not yet reached, lives mothers who struggle daily to feed and care for their families.

Rwandan mothers of Heifer projects share the same struggles. They are determined to build thriving businesses and provide for their children.

These incredible mothers of Rwanda are proud of their children and dream of overcoming the challenge of hunger and poverty.

Leigh Wood, Heifer’s donor engagement manager, shares about her recent visit with these amazing women.

Empower mothers around the globe

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From the Field: Insights For Positive Change

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This weekly post shines a light on a handful of stories from Heifer.org’s “From the Field”From the Field section.

A team from Heifer Philippines visited successful dairy projects to ensure correct development and operation of its first dairy project, which aims to benefit 1,000 families. On their study visits, the group discussed animal stocks, dairy processing and production with farm owners. A participant said the new insights and firsthand experience will help shorten the learning curve and improve the new project’s design.

A batch of Nubian and Saanen dairy goats, which are about to be milked, head toward the milking parlor at the St. Elmo's Goat and Dairy Farm in the Philippines. Photo by Jun Ayensa, Regional Program Manager, Heifer Southern Philippines

A batch of Nubian and Saanen dairy goats, which are about to be milked, head toward the milking parlor at the St. Elmo’s Goat and Dairy Farm in the Philippines. Photo by Jun Ayensa, Regional Program Manager, Heifer Southern Philippines

In South Africa, three donors recently had the chance to visit project participants to experience the positive change their generosity has made. Heifer staff took the donors on a two-day journey to four projects in the Limpopo Province. “Hearing and seeing firsthand always makes a difference,” Donor Archie Vermeulen said. “Clearly [Heifer's] positive intervention with the communities has made a huge impact.”

Edvard Hovhannisyan lives in the remote highland community of Harzhis village, Armenia. He has established his livelihood in the productivity of his cows and the Union of Pasture Users of Harzhis Consumers Cooperative, which is associated with the project Community Agricultural Resource Management and Competitiveness (CARMAC). The cooperative’s 84 families share equipment and pasture land in hopes that their joint efforts will increase income and promote community improvement.

Join the fight against hunger and poverty.

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Around the Web: Odds and Ends, Making a Difference, Teachers on a Roof

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Every week 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.

Brookhaven students

Photo credit: NeighborNewspapers.com

For months now, second-grade students at Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School in Brookhaven, Georgia, have been doing various odds and ends, including holding lemonade sales and homemade baked cookie sales, babysat siblings, prepared lunches and cleared neighbors’ backyards. They easily surpassed last year’s total of $1,200, with $2,000.

Thanks to Nancy for her fundraising efforts on her blog, Realizing I Can Help…my journey of trying to make a difference. She’s on her way to reaching her goal.

Heifer international was mentioned as the best  in three separate categories in Little Rock’s Sync Weekly Who’s the Best of the Metro: Green Business, Local Cause and Non-Profit Organization.

Maguire House

Photo credit: TheMaguirehouseBB.blogspot.com/

What’s happening in and around Maguire House? 100 Things to Do and See Within 100 Miles, including Heifer’s Learning Center at Overlook Farm in Rutland, Massachusetts.

Another local publication, Little Rock Soiree, featured Heifer this week in 4 Fabulous Ideas To Put a Little Spring in Your Step which shines a spotlight on Feast in the Field,  a special dinner to be held May 18 to raise funds and awareness for sustainable agriculture benefiting Heifer projects in the Arkansas Delta and Nepal.

Longmont Suzuki Strings

Photo credit: Longmont Suzuki Strings

Kids from ages 2 to 11, students of Longmont Suzuki Strings in Colorado, performed at a concert to benefit Heifer International on May 11. The instructor, Erron Lacy, said, “I enjoy watching the students get excited about helping others. They do it with such a pure heart and love for children across the world they will never meet. Their dedication to the benefit concert, through careful practice, is so inspiring.”

Raising the Roof

Photo credit: The Gadsden Times

“Kindergartners and elementary students at Coosa Christian School ‘raised the roof’ so their teachers would have to sit on it.” These students were part of the Coosa Coin Challenge, donating spare change to different charities chosen by each grade. The third graders chose Heifer. They beat last year’s total, raising the roof, and their reward was sending teachers and faculty up to the roof for the day.

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Watch Love Grow on Mother’s Day

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Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. The U.S. wears a mask of western wealth, but hunger and poverty are still a reality for many communities in the Arkansas Delta and Appalachia. Heifer International is making a difference in our own backyard with the Seeds of Change project.

On Mother’s Day, you can make a difference too. Heifer’s Gift Catalog offers ideas that will impact mothers worldwide and create positive, lasting change. And to present your mom with this alternative gift, make a Mother’s Day card that will let her watch love grow.

Flower Pot Card
Photo credit: karewares.blogspot.com

How to make a growing flower pot card.

What you need:

Follow these steps:

  1. Cut out the flower pot from the printable template.
  2. Once your seed paper is ready, cut out four flowers that are one inch smaller than the width of the flower pot.
  3. Write a message on the first three flowers like “I love you,” or “World’s Best Mom.” (One word on each flower.)
  4. Glue the photo to the fourth flower.
  5. Cut out grass to place at the top of the flower pot, or use the grass template.
  6. Cut a piece of yarn long enough to place all four flowers on its length.
  7. In order of your message, glue (tape or staple) the flowers to the yarn; leaving a small tab at the top to pull the flowers out of the pot when finished.
  8. Glue the bottom of the yarn to the inside bottom of the flower pot.
  9. Glue the flower pot template together, let dry.
  10. Write “Happy Mother’s Day” on the front of the flower pot.

Once you are done, insert the flowers and yarn into the flower pot. When you pull on the yarn tab, the flowers will come out revealing your message and lastly, your photo. Make sure Mom plants her seed paper flowers so she can watch love grow from her Mother’s Day card. Simply place the seed paper flowers into raked ground, cover with about half an inch of soil and keep moist. Germination should take about six to eight weeks.

Learn how Heifer is growing Seeds of Change.

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Female Farmer Succeeds Through Training

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Story by John Allen | External Relations Specialist | Heifer South Africa

Constance Masala, her husband and two children live in Musunda village, South Africa. For several years, their village suffered from a serious drought and the family survived month to month on a meager government grant.

A couple years after joining the Khongode Project in 2009, the family received five goats and livestock training from Heifer South Africa. During Heifer’s training, Constance studied basic veterinary care and also trained her children to detect when the animals have fallen ill. Now she can correctly identify common diseases, properly measure medications, vaccinate livestock against diseases and assist during problematic births. She also learned how to protect her goats from baboons and jackals, which plague the village.

Goats, training

Through Heifer’s training, Constance Masala and her children have learned how to properly care for their goats. Photo courtesy of Heifer South Africa

Constance has successfully reared eight more goats from her original five, which have brought joy to the Masala family and other impoverished families through Passing on the Gift® (POG). During a June 14, 2012 POG ceremony, Constance passed on a pregnant goat to project participant Gladys Munzhelele, which allowed Gladys to start a small-scale farming business.

“Our lives have changed,” Constance said. “Every morning my husband and I and the kids go to the kraal to check if the goats slept well.”

This Mother’s Day, help women like Constance improve their livelihoods and provide for their families. Give your mother a gift of purpose and impact. Gift Different. Give Heifer.

This Mother's Day. Gift Different. Give Heifer. Photo courtesy of Heifer International

This Mother’s Day. Gift Different. Give Heifer. Photo courtesy of Heifer International

Learn how you can help Pass on the Gift®

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From the Field: Assembled to Celebrate

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This weekly post shines a light on a handful of stories from Heifer.org’s “From the Field”From the Field section.

Heifer International project participants work hard every day to Pass on the Gift® (POG) they once received and transition from recipient to donor. Sharing their success often brings participants joy and a commendable cause to celebrate.

In March and April 2013, Heifer Cambodia self-help groups (SHG) organized seven POG ceremonies. More than 820 families shared gifts of livestock, vegetables, tree seeds and rice with new project families. During one ceremony, POG recipient Chea Sambo responded with gratitude to her donor family, “Words cannot express how happy I am to receive the gifts. I promise to take good care of the animal and improve my garden so that I can pass on to other needy families, and become a donor like your family.Thanks much to your family and to Heifer.”

April 2013

Heifer Cambodia participants Pass on the Gift® of chickens during an April 2013 ceremony. Photo by Toeng Rothy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Heifer Cambodia.

Armenian YES! Youth Clubs gathered to celebrate the past year’s activities during the 10th Youth Parliament General Assembly, April 26-27, 2013. Thirty clubs shared about their projects, which were mostly focused on civic participation and responsibility, and the success of their small businesses. Vardouhi Torosyan, a 13-year-old jewelry-making business owner, said she was able to pass on her seed money of $100 to another club member so he could also start a business.

Heifer China project participants joyfully celebrate after a POG with a Tibetan Guozhuang (bonfire) dance. Photo by Droma Sangmo, Tibet Regional Project Manager, Heifer China

Heifer China participants prepare to celebrate after a POG ceremony with a Tibetan Guozhuang (bonfire) dance. Photo by Droma Sangmo, Tibet Regional Project Manager, Heifer China

Beneath snowy mountain peaks, farmers in Tibet applauded each other during a wintry April POG. Participants from Dan Nu, Xue Ba and Zhi Ba villages passed on a monetary fund worth about $37,342 to Xu Ba village. Three candidates were distinguished among their community for modeling exceptional behavior and a traditional Tibetan Guozhuang (bonfire) dance ended the celebration.

Learn how you can help Pass on the Gift®

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Support Women Worldwide on Mother’s Day

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In Spitak, in the Lori region of Armenia, lives Irina Dallaqyan, a 37-year-old widow and mother to three sons. The family has lived in temporary housing since 1988 when an earthquake left them homeless. A local farm provided Irina with work as a dairy maid, but her position only paid an inadequate $140 a month.

Mother's Day

Irina with her sons, Arayik (left) and Vladimir, at their home in Spitak, Lori region, Armenia. Photo by Aram Petrosyan, Program Coordinator, Heifer Armenia

Irina’s neighbor told her about Heifer International’s work with Spitak Farmers Association and she made a request to become a recipient in the next Passing on the Gift® ceremony.

“I received two pigs from the project, [but] because my family lives in a temporary shelter, we have no barn,” Irina said.

The Heifer project, Agricultural Development Project in Spitak and Lernantsk Communities, helps farmers house their animals together and share the work and income generated from the joint farming.

“One of my pigs delivered eight piglets, and the other delivered nine,” Irina said. “I sold 10 piglets out of 17 and generated 180,000 Armenian drams (about $430). The money I saved from the sales of the piglets was directed to purchase feed for the animals. The rest, seven piglets, I kept to enlarge my farm.”

Through Heifer’s work, Irina found the support she needed and looks forward to future success.

This Mother’s Day you can support women worldwide with gift ideas from Heifer and give your mom something that truly makes a difference. Your gift can support impoverished mothers with training, livestock and clean water, which will help them rise out of poverty and become self-reliant.

This Mother's Day. Gift Different. Give Heifer. Photo courtesy of Heifer International

This Mother’s Day. Gift Different. Give Heifer. Photo courtesy of Heifer International

You can help Heifer support mothers worldwide.

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Around the Web: Shopping Local, a Harsh Reality, Read to Feed

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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.

Gardening

Photo credit: DNRonline

Wayland Elementary School in Virginia is a very environmentally conscious school, inspired to act by a flood in the local park that destroyed many habitats. In addition to local environmental activities such as recycling, Earth Day gardening and picking up trash, and building a buffer at the park to prevent erosion, the school participates in Heifer’s Read to Feed program, raising $3,500 for projects around the world.

Sam Hedges

Photo credit: Lily Darragh, inarkansas.com

26-year-old Sam Hedges, who once worked at Heifer’s Learning Center at Overlook Farm in Massachusetts and is now the director of the nonprofit Arkansas Local Food Network, talks about the network and shopping local.

Check out these two stories submitted to When Cows Fly: These godparents had the unique (and generous) idea of buying their godson a part of a water buffalo every year on his birthday, starting this year, the year of his birth! And the Joyful Noise Gospel Choir prepares for a musical presentation that will benefit Heifer.

St. Andrew's at Heifer Ranch

Photo credit: Amarillo Globe-News

Seventh graders from St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, Amarillo, Texas, got a glimpse of the harsh reality people around the world face every day during their annual service trip to Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas. One student Milah Someham, said, “I didn’t realize how many people lived like that until now. I kept worrying all night about what I was going to eat for dinner the next day.”

Thanks to Viva La Feminista for featuring our Mother’s Day offerings on their post, Feminist Mother’s Day Gift Guide.

Students at Morgan Twp. elementary school in Indiana have been taking part in the Read to Feed program. And, by the end of this month, school officials say they will have donated an amazing total of $12,000 to Heifer.

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Mini Pinatas Burst With Fun on Cinco de Mayo

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Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. To date, Heifer Mexico has helped rural families in 23 states with over 3,000 farm animals, mainly pigs, sheep and dairy cattle.Over the weekend many families in Mexico will celebrate Cinco de Mayo, the anniversary of one victorious battle in the fight for independence from the French. It is a festival of Mexican pride and heritage celebrated with parades, traditional food and of course, a party with family and friends.

Read about Heifer’s work in Mexico.

Mini Pinatas

Photo credit: onecharmingparty.com

Create your own mini pinatas

Paper mache pinatas can be time consuming and messy, but these mini pinatas are a simple, fun activity for kids at a Cinco de Mayo party. They can also be passed out as party favors!

What you need:

  • Paper Cone Cups
  • Colorful Ribbon
  • Hot Glue Gun
  • Colorful Tissue Paper
  • Scissors
  • Candy, etc.

Follow these steps:

  1. Cut the tops off two paper cone cups
  2. Top cone: loop ribbon over and tie a knot, then push through the top hole.
  3. Bottom cone: knot two pieces of ribbon together and push the loose ends through the hole.
  4. Fill the cones with candy and other party favors.
  5. Hot glue the top and bottom cones together.
  6. Use scissors to make fringes with tissue paper.
  7. Decorate the pinata.

Mini Pinatas
Photo credit: onecharmingparty.com

Learn more about Cinco de Mayo

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