How to use this Page

As I talked about yesterday, Heifer International is a wonderful organization that encourages people to help each other. They have been around for almost 60 years, helping people to obtain a sustainable food source and income. Here’s a success story from their magazine World Ark::

Ganga Khanal, who lives in Nepal, said she was devalued because she could not give birth to a son. She felt powerless to change her life against the centuries of tradition in her village. When Khanal gave birth to two daughters, her husband married her sister and also brought the sister into the home. Khanal fought with her sister. Her husband hit her when she spoke up for herself. She never had enough to eat.

Khanal heard about a women’s group in her village that had savings and received animals and training. The group (Heifer International) was looking for more members. Even though her husband opposed the idea, Khanal strated Jagrit Women’s Group, completed the Heifer Cornerstones and animal management training, and received two black and white goats.

Here’s a quote from her (World Ark, Spring 2010, page 13): “Today I am something. I have substance; I have animals; I have crops,” Khanal said. “My group gave me the inspiration, the idea, and the confidence to do all this.”

Obviously, we cannot all go to Nepal and train women like Khanal, even if we want to. But that’s the beauty of Heifer International. They make it easy to help from your living room. On their website, you can purchase animals and products from their online catalog, such as: cattle, sheep, water buffalo, goats, knitting baskets, flocks of chicks, and a trio of rabbits. Depending on the amount of money you have, you can also buy shares of these. This means, that when Heifer International has enough people who buy shares of an animal, an entire animal can be given to a family. They also provide fundraising ideas on their website if you want to raise money with a group or even with your family or even at Vacation Bible School this summer (there’s a special program for that!).

Above is one of my favorite books, which I’ve talked about on here before, that tells the story of an elementary school class raising money to Give a Goat.

First, I’d like to announce the winner of the Seeds of Change book giveaway from last Thursday’s post. It is . . .Becky Povich. Thank you to Becky and everyone who left comments on this post.

Beatrice’s Goat by Page McBrier and illustrated by Lori Lohstoeter is a wonderful children’s book based on a true story. You may have heard about this book before–it’s pretty popular. It is the story of Beatrice and her family, who live in Uganda and whose lives change when they receive a goat from Heifer International. The goat bears two kids and provides enough milk to feed the family and to sell for profit. Before this, life is extremely hard for Beatrice and her five brothers and sisters, who lived in extreme poverty. The children could not even go to school because they were so poor. By the end of the book (a year), Beatrice is going to school and the family is moving into a sturdier house thanks to the gift of the goat.

I love Heifer International, and I will probably talk a lot about how they change lives in poor communities all over the world. They provide (through donations) livestock to families, so they can raise more livestock and collect products from livestock to help themselves and other community members.

I receive their magazine, and here are some facts on the back of the latest issue: “In just three months in 1994, more than 800,000 Rwandans were killed in one of the worst acts of genocide in recent history. When you donate to help rebuild hope in Rwanda, your donation will be matched 3-to-1 up to $1.6 million to help revive farming traditions lost 16 years ago. That means your gift will go four times as far to help turn Rwanda’s violent past into a peaceful–and prosperous–future.”

If you are looking for a project to do in summer school or at home this summer, think about reading Beatrice’s Goat or checking out the Heifer International website and raising money to buy a family a goat, a cow, or some chicks. You can buy a share of these for as little as $10.

Photo by United Nations Development Programme www.flickr.com

Yesterday, I was watching Cartoon Network (a Pokemon movie even! Egads!) with my stepson, and three teens (I have no idea who they were) came on and told the kids that they could grab their parents, go to the American Red Cross website, and donate to help the people in Haiti. What a great idea, Cartoon Network!

Then we went to church, and the bishop of our diocese also had a special collection for the Haitian people. Another great idea! I also got an email from one of my favorite charities that I’ve talked about on this blog before–Heifer International. They’re also creating a special fund for Haiti. At the movies on Saturday before we watched Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, there was an advertisement about texting to donate money for Haiti. These are just a few of the examples that I’ve seen in the past few days for ideas to help the people in Haiti; and so I thought it would be easier if I put a few of these links all together on one blog post. That way, you can find them easily for yourself, your family, or even your classroom. (Raising money to help in Haiti would be an AWESOME service learning project for your students.)

Here are some links. If you know of more (and there are), please leave in the comments below:

The American Red Cross has two easy ways you can donate to the Haiti people. You can text “Haiti” to 90999, and $10 will be donated. This $10 will be charged on your monthly cell phone bill as well as any text message fees you may have. The other way to donate to the Red Cross is to make an online donation through the website. The donation page says that it can currently take up to twelve hours to process donations because of the huge response to the Haiti earthquake relief fund.

Heifer International had a special fund for Haiti, but I don’t currently see it listed on their website. They had projects in Haiti before the earthquake, helping people farm and become self-sufficient. On the home page, they have a button that says, “Give where it is most needed.” You can donate through that link; and if the special Haitian fund runs out, then the charity can draw from that fund. If you’re not familiar with Heifer, this is the organization that gives families and communities goats, chicks, cows, and so on.

Hearts for Haiti (knitted for children in Haitian orphanages) by stevendepolo www.flickr.com

On the Twittermoms network, creator Megan Calhoun sent out an e-newsletter today full of ideas for parents and kids to easily help the people of Haiti. On the Twittermoms website, y

This true story of a fifth-grade class that raised money to donate to Heifer International was written by the daughter of the organization's founder. Jan West Schrock grew up in a house where philanthropy and community were integrated into family life. As a career educator, Mrs. Schrock had many opportunities to travel and work with children around the world and to see in person the impact of "passing on the gift."

Investing in families by giving them a goat (or a cow or chickens or...) provides them the opportunity to feed their families and improve their situation. "Passing on the gift" requires that the family pass on a baby goat or chicks to another family and so on throughout the community until all the families have increased their standard of living. From a tiny idea, Heifer has now helped more than 8.5 million people in more than 125 countries - even in the U.S.

The idea that even "regular fifth graders" can change the world is an inspiring story that deserves to be shared with young children so that just like Mrs. Schrock, they will grow up with an understanding of the importance of helping others and building communities.

Watercolor illustrations by Aileen Darragh complement the story by bringing the kids and their journey to life realistically and with a dose of humor.

At the Tilbury House website, there are curriculum activities and lesson plans that will help teachers integrate this book into a larger unit on global issues, world poverty and hunger, philanthropy, and the importance of helping others through service learning.

This is a terrific story of how anyone and everyone can make a significant difference in our world - an increasingly important message as we prepare our students to become 21st century global citizens.

TODAY... is Blog action day.  Tens of thousands of bloggers will offer their words to the wise, and helpful ideas for combating world poverty.  Millions will read these messages.

Today I have an acrostic poem for Michele at Scholar’s Blog. Since Michele, who lives across the Atlantic in the mother country, is the anointed Queen of Fantasy, I thought this poem about a unicorn was most appropriate. Michele is also the author of the Scholar’s Blog Spoiler Zone, which is where she posts books reviews and hosts some interesting book discussion groups. Her personal physician is the famous Doctor Who!


UNICORN
by Elaine Magliaro

Unreal animal,
No one has ever seen you except
In the land of make-believe
Cavorting with maidens
Over flower-strewn fields and
Romping through woodlands in a world of
Never-ending days.


Cheerio, Michele!

Today my acrostic poem is for Jules and Eisha, the dynamic duo of the 7-Imp blog. The ladies give us book reviews for people of all ages, interviews, Poetry Friday posts, and their very popular 7–Imp's 7 Kicks weekend feature. Seven Impossible Things is one fine kidlit blog.

For Jules and Eisha, I’ve chosen a poem from WHAT’S IN A WORD, a collection of acrostics I finished work on last fall. Since the ladies of 7-Imp are such good friends, I thought the following selection would be most appropriate. We all know how close chums share secrets with each other.


Words
Hushed
In soft velvet
Sounds
Patter into your
Ear
Revealing deep secrets that no one
Should hear.


For years, I hadn’t been a big fan of acrostic poems. So many of the ones I’d read, written by both adults and children, seemed too prosaic. Few were lyrical in nature; few had figurative language; and few had any rhythm—which, to me, is a poetic requirement. But I changed my mind about acrostics when I read SILVER SEEDS: A BOOK OF NATURE POEMS. Written by Paul Paolilli and Dan Brewer and illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher, SILVER SEEDS is the best book of acrostic poems for children that I have read. This collection of fifteen poems takes readers through one day. It opens with a poem about Dawn and closes with a poem about Night. It includes other poems about a shadow, a hummingbird, a butterfly, trees, clouds, stars and the moon.

On Today’s Show: A powerful text set focusing on acts of kindness and social action by Andrea Ross of Just One More Book Thanks To: Charles Cadenhead, Anna Sumida, Jim Clohessy, Yvonne Siu Runyan. Special thanks to Andrea Ross for providing audio for this week’s show. Podcasts/ Podcasters Mentioned: Just One More Book Just One More Book Charles Cadenhead of [...]