Tag Archives: gift idea

Christmas Wish List: The Secret Life of Sheep

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On Heifer International’s Christmas Wish List, we want you to look at Christmas gift-giving from a different point of view. From a sheep’s-eye-view, actually.

Christmas gift sheep

These guys are marvelous – they provide wool and manure for rural families, and even meat and milk in some cases. And the sheep will tell you all about it in this Heifer Christmas video shot in Ecuador.

Christmas list sheep

The sheep — they actually look like goats to me, but I’m assured that they are recently-shorn sheep — required a translator for the “baaaa”s, but Heifer took care of that for you. See what the sheep have to say, and then consider purchasing a sheep as part of your Christmas shopping.

Commit Acts of Kindness Today

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Today is World Kindness Day, which is relatively un-celebrated here in the United States. What a shame, too. We could all use a little extra kindness, don’t you think? I still remember, back in high school, being made to do a Random Acts of Kindness project. At the time I thought it was ridiculous, having to log my daily acts of kindness every day for a month. As an adult with a wider view of the world, I now see the value.

Commit acts of kindness.

Image by electric.porcupine, used under Creative Commons license.

There’s an interesting post on Huffington Post UK today about the personal benefits of compassion and committing acts of kindness.

What greater acts of kindness could you make today than to donate to a struggling farm family through Heifer International?

The gift of a Family Farm Care Package will help a family boost the productivity of their farm, helping them grow more food for their family to eat and sell.

Commit acts of kindness.

Anna and her children with their calf. Photo courtesy of Heifer International.

The family of Anna Gharzaryan and her husband, Aram Karapetyan of Armenia received a pregnant heifer from Heifer Armenia and the Armenian Missionary Association of America’s joint program. Their children, Hasmik, Hayastan and Hovhannes named the cow Nargiz. Before joining the project, the family was struggling. They didn’t have livestock, and they didn’t have the money to buy one, despite both parents working hard. Because milk and dairy products are an important part of their children’s diets, the couple was forced to purchase dairy products from the neighbors.

Commit acts of kindness.

Photo courtesy of Heifer International.

It’s been a year and a half since Nargiz the cow came to the Karapetyan family. Her first calf, Samara, has already become a nice heifer and will be passed on to another family in the community next year. This year a bull calf, named Bzho, was born. He is as nice and clever as his mom and sister. Nargiz’s productivity has further increased with the birth of Bzho. Last year, she gave more than a gallon of very tasty milk each day. Now, she is producing around two gallons per day. The family no longer has to spend their small income on dairy for the children, and with time and additional training, the family’s productivity and income will increase further.

Gifts of training and livestock supported by the Family Farm Care Package will help more families like the Karapetyans become self-reliant. Commit acts of kindness for farmers by donating. It makes a great gift for this holiday season, because it shows your friend, family member or colleague you know the value of spreading kindness around the globe.

Tell us about your acts of kindness this World Kindness Day in the comments below.

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.

Holiday Shopping Madness Gives Way to #GivingTuesday

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Holiday shopping is probably the last thing on your mind right now, in mid-September, although some stores are already setting out their Christmas displays while temperatures linger in the 80s.

As the retailers set their sights on consumer dollars, a group of first-class charities is hoping to change the conversation about holiday spending. They’re proposing a counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and they’re calling it Giving Tuesday.

Giving Tuesday

Heifer International knows a little something about making holiday shopping more meaningful. Heifer receives the bulk of its contributions through its catalog of animal gifts, and many of those gifts come in the holiday season, when people are searching for a present that actually reflects their values.

Donate ChicksThe people who choose to direct their holiday dollars toward Heifer International gifts, rather than a video game system or an expensive handbag, make a huge difference to thousands of struggling families. The animals provide nutrition, yes, but more importantly they serve as a sort of small business that will be perpetuated and bring the family into self-reliance.

Giving Tuesday will be celebrated on the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving, which this year is Nov. 27, 2012. Nonprofits like the American Red Cross, Kiva, and the UN Foundation are honoring the day as the kickoff to the season of giving.

Heifer thinks this sounds like an idea whose time has come.

Tell us in the comments box below how you plan to make your holiday shopping this year more meaningful.

Give Your Mom a Plant With “Sole” on Mother’s Day

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Once a week we will be featuring a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. This week we found a fun and environmentally friendly activity that makes a great Mother’s Day gift or activity to enjoy with your kids.

Upcycled shoe planter

What a great gift idea for Mother's Day! Flickr Creative Commons License photo credit: cuttlefish

Do you have some old shoes laying around that you don’t wear anymore but just can’t bear to throw away? Here’s an idea that will help the environment and can be a gift your mom will cherish on Mother’s Day–make sure you ask a parent first BEFORE you fill it with dirt! If you’re a mom reading this, share this activity with your kids, or even try it together.

Materials:

  • Old shoe or boot
  • Plastic bag
  • Hole puncher and/or screwdriver
  • Potting soil
  • Clothes pin or binder clip
  • Seeds
  • Water
Alamo Square Shoe Garden

the Alamo Square Shoe Garden in San Francisco is an entire garden full of planters made from old, abandoned shoes! Photo credit: CHRIS HARDY / SFC

Take the plastic bag and line the inside of the shoe or boot, cutting it so it is entirely inside the shoe. To prevent the bag from moving around, clip it on with clothes pins or binder clips. Poke holes in the sides and bottom of the shoes, through the plastic bag with a hole puncher and/or screwdriver (make sure you have a parent around to help or supervise poking the holes.) Overwatering can be a big problem, so remember to keep it well-drained. Fill the shoe with potting soil, all the way to the toe, leaving it about an inch from the top. (If your shoe has laces make sure they are tied, to hold in the soil.) Plant your seeds or seedlings and water.

For more information on this and other upcycling activities, go to http://www.recyclescene.com/how-to-recycle/garden-planters. Or, read about Alamo Square Foot Garden, pictured above to the right.

You can also check out Heifer’s lesson plans and classroom activities related to sustainability, recycling, etc., in the Classroom Resources section of our website.