Best Thanksgiving Gift
Because we are so blessed with the basic comforts of food, clothing, and shelter, a meaningful and dramatic way to express our gratitude at Thanksgiving or anytime is to support an organization called Heifer International. One of the most familiar stories in our culture is the one about the choice between giving a hungry man a fish and teaching him how to fish. Heifer International extends the possibilities of teaching a man to fish by providing hungry families with livestock with which they can feed themselves as well as their neighbors. Along with the gift of chickens or goats or water buffalo come trainers who help the recipients multiply their livestock, turn food into income, and reinvest their income in their communities eventually offering them a future free from hunger and dependence.
Participation in Heifer International means that you may select to donate the animals of your choice to a needy family located anywhere in the world, including some areas of the United States. One of the least expensive Heifer gifts is a flock of chickens which can be purchased for $20 or a share in a pair of sheep or goats. Other gifts come in a wide variety of prices but the donation you make can also be a gift to the person in whose name you give. For example, you might donate a few dollars for a share of a cow in the name of a child’s teacher. The teacher receives an acknowledgement of the gift and the satisfaction of knowing she has participated in providing a better life for a needy family. What better way to express gratitude to a special friend of your child or to a family member who already has everything she needs.
Heifer International’s goals are huge and lofty but their focus is small enough to make each donor feel that they have contributed something tangible to real people. Photos of children collecting eggs from their chickens or learning to milk their goats help donors to experience more than just material satisfaction from giving a pleasing gift. Stories of how families help villages by sharing the offspring of their livestock, the milk or eggs or meat produced by their animals, and even by sharing the manure to enhance their gardens expand our understanding of how a small donation can grow to create not only small and personal rewards but vast improvement in people’s lives.
Heifer International believes that hungry families all over the world are eager to feed themselves, improve their lives, and move away from poverty. Gifts to Heifer provide improved nutrition and move far beyond mere money and food to give hope, inspiration, and happiness. Contactwww.heifer.orgfor more information.
