Cheeses of the World Gift Basket

This special gift basket includes the gift of a heifer, a goat, a sheep and a water buffalo – four animals that families around the world will use to make mozzarella, feta and hundreds of local and traditional cheese varieties. Many Heifer partner families turn milk from their animals into cheese that they can store for food or sell for income. Cheeses are easily transported and welcome for sale in most markets, making them ideal for a small business that fosters self-reliance. The perfect gift for the cheese-lover in your life!

Heifer

When a family has a cow, every morning there’s a glass of rich milk for their children to drink before heading off to school. A good dairy cow can produce four gallons of milk a day – enough for a family to drink and have surplus to sell to neighbors. Milk protein transforms sick, malnourished children into healthy boys and girls. The sale of surplus milk earns money for school fees, medicine, clothing and home improvements. Better still, every gift multiplies as the animal’s first offspring is passed on to another family, then another, and so on. Since a healthy cow can produce a calf every year, your gift expands exponentially and an entire community can move from poverty to self-reliance. Now that’s a gift worth giving this Hanukkah!

Chicks

Heifer helps many hungry families with a starter flock of 10 to 50 chicks. A good hen can lay up to 200 eggs a year – plenty to eat, share or sell. With Heifer recipients’ commitment to pass on the offspring and training, the exponential impact of adding chickens to communities in poverty is truly a model that helps end hunger and foster self-reliance. Because chickens require little space and can thrive on readily available food scraps, families can make money from the birds without spending much. And chickens help control insects and fertilize gardens.

Water Buffalo

A water buffalo is an extremely valuable gift for a hungry family, a gift that can lead them out of poverty and give them a chance for a bright future filled with hope and free from hunger. Water buffalo provide draft power for planting rice and potatoes. A farmer can plant four times more rice with a buffalo than by hand. They also provide milk for protein and manure for fertilizer and fuel. Water buffalo haul heavy loads to the market, where the sale of extra produce brings in vital income for clothing, medicine and school. Recipients also rent their buffalo to neighbors, producing even more valuable income to sustain the family. One day, those same neighbors might receive a water buffalo of their own as recipients “Pass on the Gift” of livestock and training. Protein-rich milk, strength to till soil, manure to enrich the land … so many benefits. And, in turn, water buffalo are happy just to graze on coarse grasses and other plants not suitable for harvesting.

Gift Ark

The Heifer Gift Ark is one of the most comprehensive gifts you can make to hungry families worldwide – 15 pairs of animals to change their lives. Imagine how your gift can change the world. Two cows bring milk and income to a Russian village. Two sheep help families in Arizona produce wool. Two camels help families in Tanzania earn income by transporting agricultural and industrial materials. Two oxen to pull plows and carts in Uganda. Two water buffalo help Cambodian families increase rice production through animal draft power. And that’s just the first five sets of animals – your ark provides 15 pairs of animals in total. Each family who receives livestock will pass on one or more of the animal’s offspring to other families who are in need in their community. Your gift will multiply for years to come, helping families start on a journey to fulfill a seemingly impossible dream – to secure food and a source of dependable income. What a wonderful way to bring joy to the world!

Gift of Transformation

This is a very special gift for a very special donor. It is designed to empower families, communities and even entire regions of the developing world. Each Gift of Transformation includes not simply animals but herds and flocks of animals from a variety of our livestock! Each gift also includes all the training that each recipient family will need to not only transform their own lives, but also the lives of others when they “Pass on the Gift” of offspring to their neighbors. You can only imagine how many offspring are produced each year when we deliver herds and flocks. Just think of the gallons of nutritious milk, the mountains of protein packed eggs, the warm wonderful wool and the steady dependable income that families will be able to earn from your generous investment. Nowhere else can you find a gift that will mean so much to so many.

Women’s Empowerment

In the developing world, where much of Heifer’s work takes place, women are responsible for producing 80% percent of the food. Yet they own less than one percent of the land. By focusing on women we also help struggling families and communities. Overlooked by government programs and often denied education, rural women face a cycle of poverty, hunger and despair. Without help, many toil endlessly yet watch, helpless, as death, too often, steals their children. Your gift provides Heifer training and assistance so that mothers will be able to work and become self-sufficient. They will be able to afford to send their children to school, pay medical bills and, most importantly, your gift will give women a way to lift themselves out of hunger and poverty.

Women’s Groups

Your gift to start a women’s self-help group empowers women to learn to read, teaches them valuable skills, and decreases their vulnerability to domestic violence, trafficking and health-related issues. No solution to hunger and poverty can ever take root unless we engage women and empower them to propel their families and communities toward prosperity. Girls often suffer the most from gender discrimination. When resources are limited, they are the ones denied the opportunity to go to school in favor of their brothers. Literacy rates among women are very low in many parts of the world. This cycle must be broken. Heifer international donors like you are leading the way by supporting our global programs that are designed to give every woman and girl the chance to fulfill her potential.