Join Cody Belew and ‘Say Love’

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Chelsey McNiel

Proceeds from Cody Belew’s new single “Say Love” will benefit Heifer International. You can buy a “Say Love” T-shirt and help Heifer end global hunger and poverty. You can also join Cody’s #saylove team to support Heifer’s mission.

Cody Belew

“You may know me as the guy from Arkansas who was both chosen and coached by CeeLo Green on The Voice Season 3, but you may not know my formative years were spent doing chores and tending to my family farm. Because of the hard work and community involvement that were so much a part of my life growing up, I vowed early on to use my voice as a means of helping others.

“Knowing people both here and around the world struggle to find food and deal with the issues of hunger and poverty on a daily basis is an alarming thing to me, and this is something that I want to use my voice to eradicate. Heifer International is an organization that shares my dream. I was always aware of the organization because I grew up in Arkansas, but then I began to study their mission and realized they have a tangible solution – a working model that is already in place.

“There’s no need for me to reinvent the wheel when Heifer International is already rolling it along. I believe in the mission of Heifer International and that together we can make a positive difference in our world one gift at a time, one life at a time, one community transformed at a time multiplied into countless others through Heifer’s Passing on the Gift® idea.

“So, I hope you can see how important this is, not only to me, but to those who will have their lives changed because of what we do together. So please join your voice with mine by helping me meet my team fundraising goal so that together we can #saylove and change the world!”

Photo courtesy of Heifer International

Find out how you can help Cody change the world.

From the Field: Heifer Brings Families Together

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Chelsey McNiel

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

Gender and Family Focus is one of the key elements of Heifer International’s 12 Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development. Communities worldwide are greatly impacted as families work together to achieve their goals. As men and women, sons and daughters, share responsibilities we are one step closer to eliminating hunger and poverty.

Norik with his calf. Photo by Knarine Ghazanchyan, Program Coordinator, Heifer Armenia

Norik Mkrtchyan, 14, lives with his parents and two brothers in Lukashin Village, Armenia. He helps take care of the family’s animals and works along side his father and brothers in their garden. Neighbors look to Norik’s father, Armen, for vegetable marketing advice, and his mother works preparing cheese. Norik received a cow from a Heifer-supported YES! Youth Club and plans to pass on its first calf to another club member.

Before joining a SHG in Cambodia, Loek Bunthoeun had to leave his wife and two children behind to work in Phnom Penh city. Most of his income had to sustain him as he migrated to the city for work. Now, Loek and his wife generate income with their family’s organic vegetable garden and are planning to expand their garden and begin raising pigs.

In Vietnam, Danh Hoang, 45, lives with his wife and four children. They are members of a self-help group (SHG) and plan to seize every opportunity to live a sustainable life. Danh’s two sons help their neighbors with the rice harvest while their mother weaves coconut leaves for roofing material. Danh received training through Heifer Vietnam and plans to pass on the gift to another family in need.

Learn how you can help bring families together.

Cattle Breeding Project Provides Self-Reliance

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Chelsey McNiel

Samvel and his daughter Seda. Photo by Aram Petrosyan, Heifer Armenia

Samvel and his daughter Seda at the construction site of the family’s new barn. Photo by Aram Petrosyan, courtesy of Heifer Armenia.

Samvel and his wife Narine live with their two children and Samvel’s mother in Shikahogh village, Armenia. Before becoming participants of Heifer Armenia’s Kapan Cattle Breeding Project, the family survived by selling the cheese Narine prepared from their five goats. After Heifer provided Samvel with a pregnant heifer, he rebuilt the family’s old barn to provide better conditions for the animals.

Samvel and Narine said the pregnant heifer brought the family out of extreme poverty, and they are thankful for the fresh source of curds, butter, cheese and matsoun (Armenian yogurt). The couple intends to develop a small family farm after Passing on the Gift® of their heifer’s first calf. Their new self-reliance has brought hope to their family and their neighbors.

From Little Rock to Big Delhi

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Maggie Carroll

I’ll be working at Heifer International’s India Country Office for the next few months. I will take photos for their upcoming publications, make short videos, conduct interviews for an article in World Ark Magazine, and facilitate a citizen journalism project with some of the women involved in Heifer’s field projects. Can’t wait to share my experiences!

I’m here- I have arrived in New Delhi, India! After approximately 3,000 hours of travel (okay, 26) I have settled into my new home comfortably. The city is beautiful, vibrant, and exhausting. Although I hail from the giant metropolis of Little Rock, Arkansas, Delhi is definitely a big change.

People, cars, trucks, rickshaws, auto rickshaws, bicycles, motorcycles, buses, and cows fill the streets. For the first couple of days, Heifer India’s driver kindly chauffeured a bewildered, geographically lost Maggie to work each day, and then back home again in the afternoon.

The entire India-based Heifer staff is extremely welcoming. The work environment is relaxed and open to my slew of questions. Lunch is eaten together, family-style, at the large meeting room table. I recently had a taste of pickled, spicy pepper at the suggestion of my boss, Avni. Hopefully I’m training my taste buds to handle even spicier Indian cuisine.

As I sipped on endless cups of green tea, I read-up on the group’s work in the various territories it currently works in; Rajasthan, Bihar, and Orissa. Last year, between initial acquisition and Passing on the Gift, over 25,000 goats and 26,000 chickens were given to 1,672 families in the field!

I have been reading and reviewing case studies of the individuals, families, and communities the Heifer India staff has worked with and it has me aching to go out into the field myself. I’ll have to wait until next week for that. I look forward to contributing substantial work to this well-oiled machine and hope to learn all that I can from them.

Stay tuned for my adventures with Heifer and spicy food in next week’s blog post!