In the News

And if you’re looking for a last-minute Father’s Day gift, here’s an idea that just about any dad will appreciate. Heifer International, best known for donating cows instead of cash (among other longer-term, sustainable approaches to charity), explains: “In many cultures, the dad provides for his family’s well-being, but many fathers around the world struggle to feed their children. A donation in honor of your dad makes a unique Father’s Day gift idea.” I agree—and really, who needs another tie?

A year after Heifer International CEO Pierre Ferrari told Arkansas Business about the nonprofit’s increased emphasis on measuring its impact, Heifer has created and filled a position to do exactly that.

Hilary Haddigan is Heifer’s chief of mission effectiveness, a role she assumed in April. She has worked at the global nonprofit, headquartered in Little Rock, since 1999. Since 2009, she has been overseeing Heifer’s planning and effectiveness efforts, developing indicators to help the nonprofit quantify just how effective its approach to ending poverty is.

It’s a common and understandable misconception that Heifer International works only in developing countries. It is Heifer International, after all, and most press attention is focused on its animal husbandry and rural development investments there.

Arkansas-based Heifer International is shifting gears to some degree in Nepal from long-term development to disaster relief in the wake of a devastating earthquake. The non-profit has had a presence in the Himalayan nation since 1957 and about 50,000 program participants are directly impacted by the natural disaster.

Beatrice Biira learned math by counting sticks in the dirt. In her rural village in Uganda, she had no books, no chalkboards, no electricity. School was an impossible dream.

Donna Hutton kissed the lizard during a school assembly on April 16 after the students read 219,851 minutes and raised over $10,000 for the non-profit charity Heifer International.

HEIFER International has been awarded a Starbucks Foundation grant of $750,000 to help fund the Mbozi Farmer Livelihood Improvement Project in Mbeya Region, the non-profit organisation has said. The money will fund a programme helping smallholder coffee growing communities in the region. As much as 90 per cent of the population in the Mbozi District is engaged in coffee farming and the grant will help diversify some farmers with dairy heifers and bulls.

A childhood favorite sock puppet will help officiate a wedding in Louisville this weekend and Lamb Chop’s appearance is just part of what makes the nuptials unusual. It might be seen as a slightly wacky twist on a wedding but it is also raising money for good.

“The container is a perfect example of how innovative thinking specifically for these farmers can make a significant impact,” Jane Maindi, who managed Heifer International’s East Africa Dairy Development research efforts, said in a statement. “Kenyan farmers who participated in our pilot program have been raving about Mazzi and crediting it with reducing wastage and spillage, improving yields and increasing their incomes.”

Visits to the 250-acre ranch start with a video presentation on Heifer, which describes itself as “a charity organization working to end hunger and poverty around the world by providing livestock and training to struggling communities.”