Heifer in the News

In this economy, the standard retort for anyone complaining about their work is “just be glad you have a job.”

That may be true, but some people in the area regularly complete some particularly icky tasks. Most people would give them a little leeway when it comes to complaining. Not that they are.

This week, these businesses graciously let us experience a day in their hazardous work environments. We dodged poop, heavy machinery and animal teeth to bring you the story of what it’s like to work with port-a-potties, camels and large mounds of recyclable material.

By Spencer Watson

Radio Green Talk with Diana Dehm

CEO Pierre Ferrari, Heifer International & Nancy Ross with the “Why Should I?” moment

It’s all about positive social impact, ending hunger and poverty, and caring for our earth.

LITTLE ROCK - U.S. Sen. John Boozman visited Heifer International and Heifer Village as part of an initiative to address food insecurity issues. Boozman toured Heifer International headquarters and Heifer Village to look at the group's model to end poverty and hunger.

READING, Aug 13, 2011 (The Daily Globe - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Showing livestock at the fair is a lot of work for 4-H members -- especially for those involved in the beef project. They have to teach their cattle to lead on a halter, clip their hair before show day and use hair sprays and hoof paint to get their animals looking just right for the judge.

Then there is the behind-the-scenes work of livestock production many fair-goers likely don't realize -- the daily chores, the recordkeeping, building pens for baby calves and developing a breeding program so there's a calf crop the next year. It is those behind-the-scenes responsibilities that 13-year-old Logan Rogers of rural Reading now experiences as a recent winner in the Rolling Hills Heifer Project.

Love brought Jennifer Gallentine from the city to live in the country. A desire to stay home and raise her baby turned her into a farmer and a textile artist -- and Willow Mist Acres Alpaca Farm & Boutique was borne.

Not only did the Gallentines bring NJ Atlantico's Sea Admiral to the school they also donated the fiber from the farm and materials for the students to make alpaca-needle felted magnets to sell during Lent. The students made and sold 62 magnets from which they raised $260 to donate to Heifer International, which works with communities all around the world to end hunger and poverty.

Think “livestock to help poor countries” and what comes to mind? Probably not bees, worms and snails. Though they are not your everyday farm critters, they are among species John P. Perkins says will be included in workshops he will lead at the Northeast Organic Farming Association Summer Conference this weekend.

The 37th annual NOFA conference runs Aug. 12 through 14 at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and is open to the public. Perkins, of Worcester, is volunteer coordinator for Central Massachusetts for Heifer International at Overlook Farm in Rutland. He will present two workshops on Sunday, “Livestock for a Small Earth,” for adults, and “One Solution to World Hunger: Farm Animals,” for teens.

Thank you to all the readers who voted Heifer International as a "runner up" for favorite charity and we congratulate Our House for being the Best of Arkansas 2011. 

My Journey: Paul Mugisha

Bio gas provides enough energy for cooking and lighting

Paul Mugisha from Isingiro district has been a farmer for over 15 years, but much of his experience was limited to subsistence farming. “I used to grow crops to feed my family. I would then sell whatever was left, but there was never much left,” he says. Despite this, he stuck to farming, investing his savings in agriculture. His efforts paid off when he became a beneficiary of Heifer International’s support to farmers.

Senior Chief Mushili of the Lamba people in Masaiti District has urged his subjects not to engage themselves in any form of violence as the country heads towards this year's tripartite elections.The chief was speaking through his clerk, Christopher Kaluba during the hand-over ceremony of 40 draft cattle and two bulls to Kaunga Women Group in Kafulafuta by Heifer International on Monday.

Growing vegetables in the ground takes time, effort and dedication.  Yet energy focused on a single point, like the sun on a plant, can yield marvelous results.  At Heifer USA, that result is all about feeding the hungry.  Heifer USA's newest initiative, The Seeds of Change, is growing in new directions for locally grown food and its distribution in Arkansas. 

Nation’s leading animal health company focuses philanthropic efforts on helping U.S. families raise livestock

MADISON, N.J. - To help educate impoverished families in the United States about how to farm successfully, and to promote self-sufficiency and fight hunger, Pfizer Animal Health has made a $65,000 contribution to Heifer International—world renowned for its efforts to end poverty and protect the environment.
“We’re helping farmers establish themselves so they can provide a consistent and reliable supply of locally grown foods to the community,” said Michael McFarland, DVM, Diplomate ABVP, and Group Director of Veterinary Medical Services & Corporate Citizenship for Pfizer Animal Health. “The donation will go towards programs designed to help communities thrive long term.”

“My food for inspiration continues to be the Heifer International program of helping people to help themselves. I am impressed by how diverse communities, with the guidance of Heifer International veterinarians, agronomists and community organizers, work together to make barren land fertile, maintain healthy animals and respect the environment as renewable sources of food, energy and life,” LaDuke said.

April vacation is a past memory as kids and families alike prepare for summer vacations and get excited for school to come to an end. College students are coming home after many months of grueling assignments mixed with social events, both preparing them for the “real world” with the hopes of a bright and profitable future.

Meanwhile a group of 10 high school students can’t help but wonder, “What about our community in Honduras? What will the future look like for the friends we made?” During April vacation Wellesley students Anna Willms, Giselle Lehman, Louie Grignaffini, and A.J. Grignaffini traveled together with students and adults from Wellesley, Newton, Weston, Arlington, Plymouth and California through Heifer International Study Tours to work on a community project in Trinidad, Honduras.

Heifer International, the Little Rock-based company known for its programs to help countries around the world, is starting a new program aimed at ending hunger and poverty here at home in 14 counties in Arkansas.

The five-year project, called The Seeds of Change Initiative, will start with a $2.25 million to help build sustainable community food systems in the Arkansas Delta and Appalachia.

TADIAN, Mt. Province, June 22 (PIA)  -- The Heifer International – Philippines in partnership with the Jaime V. Ongpin Foundation, Inc. (JVOFI), conducted last Monday the  original placement ceremony to another partner families in this municipality.

According to James Comicho, community facilitator of JVOFI, there are 28 identified original partner-families in barangay Bunga of this municipality that benefited from the program after having completed the 12 Cornerstone workshop, which is a prerequisite to receiving the gift.

He's there for you no matter what, and now with Father's Day around the corner, it's your opportunity to thank him back.
Stumped on what to give that special dad in your life this Father's Day? Have no fear. Here is a list of Father's Day gift ideas that are sure to please...and do a whole lot of good!

-- Non-profit Heifer International, which works in the U.S. and abroad to help families become more self-reliant, encourages folks to show their thanks for dad by making a gift in his name that will help another needy father provide for his children. According to the organization, a donation of a farm animal through Heifer International's gift catalog provides food security and income for families across the globe. For more information, visit www.heifer.org or call 501-907-2952.

Heifer International's "cow" logo prominently featured on the character Stink in Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer movie. 

The challenge of feeding a growing population of 9 billion by 2050 requires collaboration across all stakeholders on a scale never seen before and it has to start now, according to the DuPont Advisory Committee on Agriculture Innovation and Productivity for the 21st Century.  The committee released a report today detailing recommendations for closing the food productivity gap. 

In 2010, DuPont assembled an external committee, which is chaired by former U.S. Senator Thomas A. Daschle, to examine the best public policy mechanisms and business practices to tackle the global challenge to increase agriculture productivity in a sustainable manner.  Other committee members are: Charlotte Hebebrand, chief executive of International Food and Agriculture Trade Policy Council; Jo Luck, president, Heifer International; J.B. Penn, chief economist, Deere and Co., and Pedro Sanchez, director of Tropical Agriculture and Rural Development Program, Earth Institute at Columbia University.

Using his allowance money, first-grader Kai Sutter bought a ticket for a $10,000 jackpot prize drawing at an event and told his mother that if he won, he would donate half of the money to benefit people in need.

Kai won the drawing and kept his promise, giving the money to a collection for Heifer International that his class was participating in at Fruitville Elementary.

He presented a check for $4,000, half of his winnings after taxes, to local Heifer volunteer representative Yvonne Eubanks on May 10 at Fruitville Elementary.