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September 26, 2006
Giving Back: A Mother's Pride
Morgan, my ten-year-old son, has taken on a very ambitious project. It's something I want to share with you, both because I'm very proud of him and because you may want to help him reach his goal.
For the past several years, he has donated 25% of his allowance to Heifer International. This is an organization that helps lift people out of poverty by providing them with farm animals and teaching them animal husbandry skills. They help people here in the United States, but their projects also span the globe.
In Peru, for example, poor farmers are being forced to move to higher elevations to farm. The soil at these higher elevations is very fragile and not very fertile. Traditional grazing animals, such as cattle, damage the soil with their hooves and eat too much of the grass helps hold the soil together.
Heifer International will give a poor Peruvian farmer a llama. Llamas have soft hooves that do not damage the soil, and they nibble at the grass without destroying it. The farmer can use the llama as a pack animal, can use the llama's wool to weave cloth, and can use the llama's dung to fertilize the soil and produce better crops. A single animal can make a huge difference in a family's life.
Part of the Heifer International agreement is that, when that llama is bred and has offspring, the farmer must give the baby llama to another poor family, so that they, too, can begin to improve their lives. In this way, whole communities are lifted out of poverty.
I have personally supported Heifer International for many years, and I'm proud that Morgan is trying to raise $5,000 for the organization by the end of this year. He has enlisted family, friends, neighbors, and the students at his school to help him reach his goal. He's given presentations at student assemblies, and has a big chart hanging up in the multipurpose room at school to keep track of his progress.
I'm pasting in the letter that he sent to friends, family members, and neighbors. If you could find it within your heart to support this project, we would both be very appreciative.
Hi,
I don't know if you've ever heard of Heifer International, but it's an organization that donates animals to poor families around the world. Poor kids in some countries can't go to school because they have to help their parents get water, fetch firewood, and gather food. Something as simple as a farm animal can give a family milk, eggs, wool, or fertilizer to use and sell. This gives the kids the opportunity to go to school.
One of the best things about the families that receive animals is that they give the animals' babies to other families, to that those families can also have a better life. Heifer calls this "passing on the gift."
For three years, I've been using 25 percent of my allowance to buy animals for poor families from Heifer International. I've bought bunnies, bees, chicks, ducks, and geese.
Now, I want to give more, and I'm asking for your help. Could you make a donation to help me reach my goal of raising $5,000 for Heifer International by the end of 2006? It would mean a lot to me, but it would mean more to the kids who will be able to go to school because of your help.
You can make a donation in one of two ways. You can write a check to Heifer International and mail it to me at:
Morgan's Ark Project
P.O. Box 580698
Elk Grove, CA 95758
Or, you can make a credit card donation online. My Heifer International Registry is called morgans_ark. When you go online, you can choose the kind of animal you'd like to donate.
If you'd like to read more about the work that Heifer International does, you can go to their website.
Thanks so much for your help!
Love,
Morgan
Posted by conradb212 at 04:23 PM | Comments (0)