Heifer Update December 2021

The Heifer Christmas Tree is up, all decorated with ornaments for Christmas Giving. During the month of December, along with the regular “Got Milk?“ Program, the LUMM are inviting you to visit the “Heifer Christmas Tree”.

What a perfect way to pick a stocking stuffer for a poor, hungry family. A gift that may put them on a road leading away from poverty and hunger.

Heifer Update 12-4

The Month of November was a month to be Very Thankful for. First the “Got Milk?” Program again finished a cycle – a Heifer,  a Water Buffalo and a Goat. Thank You to all for your donations. 

In celebration of Mike and Marty Merryman’s 50th Anniversary, 2 Hope Baskets were donated. A Hope Basket contains a Flock of Chicks and 3 Rabbits.

Then the First Ornament from the Heifer Tree and a Flock of Chicks will find their way to a poor and hungry family.

And today we introduce the last two cornerstones for just and sustainable development.

Entering December, we have a split program going. 1st – We are in the last month of the “Got Milk?” segment, and 2nd – We are picking our favorite ornaments from the “Heifer Tree” and giving someone a real “Hand Up” (Not a Handout). Together we will give a Christmas Gift that keeps on giving.

Heifer Update 12-6

Over 2000 years ago God gave us the perfect gift for Christmas. He gave us His Son, Jesus. We all remember and love that Christmas Story.

About 77 years ago Heifer International began giving gifts (on your behalf) of animals to poor and hungry farmers. One such family was Alice and George. They struggled with their dairy farm. It just wasn’t making ends meet and they needed help. Alice then joined a Heifer Cooperative which led them to sell their milk for higher prices. Heifer also taught them better ways to nourish their cows for more milk production. Now Alice and George have a thriving dairy operation. Recently they added chickens, goats and fruit trees to their farm.

Many of us put out milk and cookies for Santa. Instead, lets put out a Heifer for someone like Alice. But above all, lets all remember the real Story of Christmas.

Heifer Update 12-27

The last week of the “Got Milk?” Program. The final report will be written this weekend. Also, the report on the Christmas Tree.

Next week – year will start a new exciting chapter in our Heifer Project. It will be announced at our LUMM Breakfast and meeting a week after New Years Day, January 8, 2022.

Bhanwari Devi is a 40 year old farmer. She lives in the Nagaur District of Rajasthan, India. She has a rare talent of the ability to help others overcome their fears and follow her down unfamiliar paths. She has organized 22 self-help groups.

After she married, she would get up at 3:00 a.m. to grind flour for bread, make 5-6 trips a day to a nearby pond for water, and take care of their 2 children. Then Heifer arrived and after training she and the participants of her group were given 2 Goats, fodder and vegetable seeds and funding to build toilets and rainwater storage tanks. Soon her vegetable garden prospered as did she, selling spinach and seeds from her garden and sales of Goat milk. “I was completely destitute,” she says, “I had no money, and all of a sudden (her husband died) expenses for his final rights and I paid it all through my kitchen garden.”

She has “passed on” 2 Goats and funds for toilets and water tanks.

Bhanwari says “I knew that I am poor, but I realized I still have the capacity to help people who are poorer than me.”