The Brooklyn volunteer group will have a Heifer table at the GoGreen! festival in Greenpoint this Saturday. GoGreen brings our entire community together to celebrate and build a sustainable environment for a clean future! You can expect art projects, science exhibits, educational displays, enviro-friendly merchandise, health & wellness tips, kids’ activities, live music & performances, and so much more!

Sounds like a great way to learn more about Heifer and spend a peaceful Saturday in McCarren Park.

For more info click here

Just a reminder: Mother’s Day is coming up soon.
We think Mother’s Day is a great time to show how much your mother’s care and teaching meant to you. After all, if you’re a Heifer supporter, you’re already a well-informed and compassionate person, and you probably learned much of that from your mother.
Just look at how much is spent on gifts at Mother’s Day, versus the actual desires of real moms:

Helping women and mothers is important to Heifer International. In fact, it’s one of our Cornerstones. We know that mothers are on the front lines of the struggle to keep families adequately fed.
So maybe a sweet gesture for Mother’s Day this year would be a Heifer animal gift, a gift that will multiply for generations to come.

Are you over 50 and interested in giving back through volunteering? Want to meet some Heifer staff and learn more about what we do and how you can get involved?

Please visit us on May 8th at the Volunteer Ventures Expo from 12-2:30pm on Wednesday, May 8th at UJA-Federation of New York, 130 E. 59th Street. http://jasa.org/sites/default/files/Volunteer_Ventures_Expo_2013.pdf

Heifer International’s mission is to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and care for the Earth.Since Monday is Earth Day, we wanted to share some of our work around the world that exemplifies this mission, especially those in which caring for the Earth is at the heart. Heifer’s work is focused on ending hunger, but we can’t end hunger without thinking about the implications our work can have for our planet. Poor agriculture is often related to soil erosion. Lack of water is often related to deforestation. And global warming is already hurting the world’s most poor and vulnerable through drought and changing ecosystems. If we are going to set families on a path toward sustained prosperity we must make sure that we work for a sustainable environment.
In Sierra Leone’s Port Loko district, which is mostly savannah, the all-too-frequent bush fires posed a serious threat to this already fragile environment, lowering the water table and harming crop yields. Heifer International intervened by introducing tree crops with economic value, and educating the communities through drama, a very unique and highly successful approach.
Living Water, a women’s group in Brazil that Heifer has supported, recently received the “Rural Women Producers for a Sustainable Brazil” award. The group combines environmental conservation, women’s empowerment and income generation, and the award is a symbol of the government of Brazil’s recognition of the work of these women and Heifer International.
In Bangladesh, an effort is underway protect the environment and health of communities in the Bhairab district from open defecation and makeshift latrines. Community members received training on health and nutrition, and  they began to consider how their actions affect their families’ health. They learned how unhygienic, open latrines spread disease and decided that taking measures to prevent disease is easier than trying to cure it. Members of the project management committee began the process of building sanitary pit latrines. It was a proud day for many when construction materials arrived.
These are just a few stories of how Heifer is working to end hunger and poverty while caring for the Earth. To find out more about how Heifer takes care of the Earth, see our Cornerstone: Improving the Environment.
Find out ways to make an an eco-friendly meal and invite Mother Nature to dine with your family.

Photos by Geoff Oliver Bugbee
BHARATPUR, Nepal—A Heifer Passing on the Gift® ceremony is filled with moments of joy and playfulness, more than a touch of chaos and the pure pride of recipients who in an instant become donors to other women in need in their community. Heifer executive staff and Board of Directors members celebrated with hundreds of families in three villages in the Chitwan region of Nepal this week.

President and CEO Pierre Ferrari, in Bharatpur for a 13th generation celebration, took the opportunity to pass on a symbolic goat from San Carlos Alzatate village in Guatemala.
“This goat is a representation of the global community and the solidarity we all have for each other,” Ferrari said, who traveled to Guatemala just before the Nepal trip. “The women in Guatemala want you to know that you are not alone, and they salute your success amid the real challenges that they also face. The key to understand is that together there is nothing we cannot do.”

Heifer Board of Directors Vice Chair Arlene Falk Withers also spoke at the celebration, praising all the women present for their hard work and impressive returns on the investment of animals and training they received from Heifer.
“We want you to know how proud we are of you,” Withers said. “We know that you’ll go on to do tremendous things in the future.”