Tag Archives: Holiday Giving 2011

Giving Independence

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It’s hard not to be pleasantly overwhelmed by the kindness of others when you’re in my business. For each issue of World Ark, I get to write about donors who love Heifer’s mission so much that they go to great lengths to provide a gift of livestock to the families in need all around the world.

Meghan and Ryan Bell in June 2012

But one donor in particular has really inspired me, and I find it a true pleasure to have gotten to know him and his family over the past couple of years.

Ryan Bell was born with Treacher Collins Syndrome, a disorder that causes malformations of the face. The 11-year-old from Wallingford, Conn., has endured 37 surgeries, and just last week had a tracheotomy—a device which helped him breathe—removed. But Ryan knows his birth defect is nothing compared to what some families face.

An animal lover, Ryan convinced his parents in 2009 that their annual giving should go to Heifer International, a nonprofit dedicated to ending hunger and poverty by providing gifts of livestock and training to families in need around the world. In two short years Ryan  raised nearly $9,400 for the charity. We profiled Ryan and his little sister, Meghan, in last year’s Holiday edition of the magazine when they were hoping to raise $850 for a camel.

Ryan before the surgery to lengthen his jaw (left) and after. He has since had his tracheotomy removed.

Well, Heifer donors came through for Ryan and Meghan, and the pair raised more than $8,600 last year. But this year, Ryan has upped his goal. Inspired by a surgery that helped lengthen his jaw and open his airway, Ryan has become set on raising $25,000, or Heifer’s “Gift of Transformation.”

I’ll let Ryan tell the rest, but you can read his whole story and his quest to raise the Gift of Transformation in the most recent edition of World Ark:

“I was excited when I saw the Gift of Transformation in the gift catalog because it reminds me of the transformation that I went through this year. I wasn’t excited to do this surgery and I wouldn’t have chosen it for myself. The doctor took my underdeveloped jaw and transformed my airway. It was a transformation for me,” Ryan said.

That transformation serves as his inspiration, he said.

“I want to give my own Gift of Transformation to the world. I want to send herds of heifers, llamas, and goats, flocks of sheep and chickens, a pen of pigs, a school of fish and a gaggle of geese to an underdeveloped area of the world and let a transformation take place as the gift is received, utilized and passed along. A Gift of Transformation can affect the lives of people in an entire village or community.”

“I don’t want to rely on a trach to breathe. I don’t want extra medical equipment and it would be great to not need a nurse or parent around at all times. I want my independence, just like these people want to be independent and take care of their own needs. They just need a different kind of assistance for their transformation; they need us.”

To help Ryan meet his goal, go to his Team Heifer page.

Taking the "Box" Out of Boxing Day

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Post written by Heifer International Writer Falguni Vyas.

Boxing Day forever lives in the shadow of its much bigger, much older sibling, Christmas. This day after Christmas holiday is observed in most countries that were settled by the English (with the exception of the United States) and while no one really knows the true origins, it is a day celebrated by many. 

Photo by zharth. Used under Creative Commons License.
Some say Boxing Day came about when King Wenceslas (of “Good King Wenceslas” Christmas Carol fame) was moved to charity when he saw a poor man gathering wood during a massive snowstorm on Dec 26th. From then on, this became the day the English poor received the most charity. 
Another theory is that it’s a result of The Church of England’s Advent celebration. During Advent, Anglican parishes passed around boxes in which churchgoers put in monetary donations. Then, on the day after Christmas, the contents of the boxes were distributed among the poor.  

Maybe it’s because traditionally the aristocracy gives out boxed Christmas presents and bonuses to their servants and staff? Servants and staff typically worked on Christmas Day and were given the 26th off to go home and celebrate the Holiday with their family. 

In all honesty, no one really knows the true origins of this mysterious holiday. Each theory does share a common thread: helping the poor. 

One thing everyone seems to agree on is that it’s a whole day dedicated to give back to those that are less fortunate, to the many families in the world that need a helping hand. In 1994, the country of South Africa went so far as to rename Boxing Day to “the Day of Goodwill”. This year, let’s all take a page out of their book and make a contribution in the fight to end hunger and poverty in the world; a world in which more than half of the population lives on less than $2 USD a day. 

This December 26th shop the Heifer Gift Catalog. Not only will you make Good King Wenceslas proud, you’ll also be joining the ranks of millions of Brits and Australians who celebrate this day much like the way Americans celebrate Black Friday; by shopping up a storm. 

With the Heifer Gift Catalog there are no lines, no shipping fees, no hassle. And as an added bonus, no gift-wrapping (and ironically no boxes) means you’ll be doing the Earth a favor, too. 


Heifer’s Holiday Giving Roundup

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Photo by Jake Lyell for Heifer International.

I hope you’ve enjoyed our Holiday Giving 2011 series, where we’ve taken a look at many of the livestock and other agricultural inputs Heifer uses as part of our projects worldwide. I thought it might be nice to do a bit of a re-cap, in case you missed one or are just discovering the series.

A goat is the poor man’s cow.
A heifer provides all 7 Ms: Milk, Manure, Muscle, Meat, Materials, Money and Motivation.
Sheep were domesticated nearly 12,000 years ago.
Llamas and alpacas are better pack animals than horses.
Chickens, geese and ducks provide hundreds of eggs a year.
Trees make a great gift for vegetarians.
Water buffalo are like tractors that poop.
Pigs are a farm’s living savings account.
Rabbits are the gifts that truly multiply.
Camels are in it for the long haul.

All of these options, and more, are available in our online Gift Catalog. It’s always the right time to give the gift of a better life to families and communities in need. But the holidays really do give us a good excuse, don’t they?

Start Your Hanukkah With Heifer

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For those of you who celebrate Hanukkah, you know it begins this evening. While giving gifts as part of the Hanukkah celebration isn’t universal or originally part of the Jewish holiday, there are many Jewish children who receive a gift for each of the eight nights.

If you are planning on gift-giving this Hanukkah, I hope you’ll consider giving a donation to Heifer. The gift of a sheep, goat, fish fingerlings, bees or tree seedlings could make a great Hanukkah gift for your loved ones.

Happy Hanukkah!

Give a Camel: A Gift that’s in it for the Long Haul

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At home in arid environments, camels provide plenty to needy families who have few resources. Aside from the nutritious milk and transportation they provide, camels are easy on the environment. They eat leaves and trees and not precious grasses that need to be saved for other livestock.

Isaya Shakwet. Photos by Jake Lyell for Heifer International.

Sabina and Isaya Shakwet live in the rural Maasai village of Mkuru, Tanzania, where 12 camels donated by Heifer supporters were sent. At first, the camels mostly provided families with much needed milk (which has three times the vitamin C as cow’s milk) and transportation. But through Passing on the Gift, there were soon 26 camels in the community. And that’s when they had the idea to team up and start the Mkuru Camel Safari Cultural Tourist Program. “Through camels we get a lot of income,” said Isaya gratefully. “It helps children with education fees. We pay doctors once a month to come out and give medical care to pregnant and nursing women.”


Transportation
For nomadic people like the Maasai in Tanzania, camels have lightened the load. Families have trained camels to plow and haul firewood, as well as crops to be sold at markets.

Shelter
Income from the sale of surplus milk can help pay school and doctor fees. But families can also take the money to make improvements to their homes–including solid roofing.

Microenterprise
Recipients of Heifer camels are recognizing the business opportunities that their camels provide. Extra income has allowed one group to launch a cultural program for tourists. The camels provide the transportation for the safari through rural Tanzania.

This holiday season, give the gift of a camel to your daughter, who repeatedly made you sing the song, “Sally the Camel (has five humps” when she was 2. And read more about Heifer’s work with camels.

Give Three Rabbits for a Gift that Truly Multiplies

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Rabbits provide so many advantages that the farmer must decide exactly how he or she would like to benefit. Depending on the breed, rabbits can provide fur, wool, manure, leather and protein. And farmers are almost guaranteed extra income from their endeavors.

Oleksandr Kohurta Passes on the Gift of a trio of rabbits to
Maria Herasymchuk’s twin girls, Vika and Lina.

Oleksandr Kohurta was one of the first project participants in the Khudiaky village, Ukraine, to recieve rabbits. He was not quite sure about the whole idea of rabbit breeding in the beginning. He thought he did not have enough experience in farming and that he would not be able to provide the proper conditions for the rabbits. However, after a month had passed, the rabbits had their first offspring. Oleksandr’s three rabbits had already multiplied to 33. He likes rabbit breeding so much, he now considers developing a full-scale rabbit farm. In 2010, Oleksandr Passed on the Gift to Maria Herasymchuk, single mother to twin girls, Vika and Lina. “From now on we will have high-quality, nutritious meat and a regular income for the family. The children already like playing with the animals and helping take care of them. They are looking forward to new little rabbits. There couldn’t be anything better than to see your child healthy and smiling,” Maria said.


Fertilizer
Rabbit manure is an important source of organic matter and is rich in nitrogen. It is a valuable compost when coupled with worm production and can also be used in conjunction with fish farming, as rabbit manure increases algae production in ponds, improving fish yields.

Protein
The meat from a rabbit is highly nutritious and a rich source of protein, which is necessary in the growth and repair of muscles. And because rabbits reproduce so quickly, families can have a constant supply. Rabbit meat is also low in fat, sodium and cholesterol.

Quick Pass On
Because rabbits can have up to six litters a year–or 40 rabbits–it becomes easy for families to give up some rabbits for sale or to fulfill their requirement of Passing on the Gift.

This holiday season, give the gift of rabbits to your son’s math tutor, Amanda, without whom Jason might never have learned his multiplication tables. Read more about Heifer’s work with rabbits here.

Give the Original Piggy Bank

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Mr. Alyssi Eloundou Bathelemy and his wife Mrs. Kanse Ada Philomene
stand in front oftheir pig pen. Photos by Jake Lyell.

If Heifer animals are like “living savings accounts” for struggling families, the pig may well be the most interest-bearing. Each pig can provide a valuable source of protein, income from the sale of offspring and manure to nourish crops and soil.

Before receiving the gift of pigs and training in their care from Heifer supporters, Mr. Ayissi Eloundou Bathelemy and his wife Kanse Ada Philomene from Cameroon could hardly afford enough food for their six children and 13 grandchildren. Philomene almost died because she had no money to pay doctors, and her children were mocked for not being able to afford to go to school. Now she is able to plant watermelon, spinach and corn using the manure from her pigs as a rich, organic fertilizer. Their crop yields have improved so much that there has been enough money to pay for Philomene’s hospital bills and school fees for the children. Before Heifer, they only earned about $225 a year. Now they’re earning almost $750.


Fouda Marcelin, Bathelemy and Philomene’s grandson.

Health Care
Pigs can have up to 16 piglets in a litter, and piglets usually double their three-pound birth weight in their first week. With so many piglets, families can sell them faster, which means money from their sale at market. For many families, this money pays for doctors’ fees when health care is typically out of reach.

Resource Conservation
Pigs thrive on crop and garden waste and food scraps. Because of this, families don’t have to dedicate much land to grow food for their pigs. That means more food for the family to eat or sell. This also contributes to less waste per family.

Better Local Economy
With livestock, families need veterinarians. That’s why Heifer trains locals as Community Animal Health Workers so they can meet the needs of families raising livestock. Communities benefit from healthier pigs, so more families are lifted out of poverty as more pigs are passed on.

This holiday season, give a pig in honor of your Uncle Jim, the family accountant. And read more here about Heifer’s work with pigs.

Corrections made to this post 12/14/11.

Geek Up Your Heifer Gift

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So you’ve purchased a heifer (okay, let’s be honest, a share of a heifer) for your favorite do-gooder cousin, and you’ve ordered your plush heifer to go with it. What’s next?

Wrap it up! But don’t just use the same-old wrapping paper tucked back in your coat closet from last year.

CustomXM lets you support Heifer AND get your
holiday geek on.

Check out this awesomely geeky giftwrap called QRWrap from CustomXM. It’s awesome because if you choose Heifer International when you order, a $10 contribution will be made to Heifer (the $3 you’ll pay for shipping and taxes won’t, of course). It’s geeky because the giftwrap is covered in a QR code, which you can connect to a photograph of your dog wearing reindeer antlers, the URL of your favorite website (heifer.org wouldn’t be a bad choice, hint hint), or holiday message or video.

Lot’s of possibilities here!