Alternative Giving - Heifer International

The moment has come when UPS may not quite make it to your door before Christmas Day, and so I want to use today’s calendar post to remind you of something that we all already know - sometimes the best gift at Christmas is a donation to a worthy organization in the name of a friend or loved one.

A few Christmases ago, we started doing this as a family, remembering that most adults in our lives have everything they could ever need; and that the stress of shopping and wrapping, of returning and even sometimes re-gifting, makes for a not too merry Christmas.

So if you are still looking for that perfect gift five days before Christmas, why not consider an alternative gift through an organization like Heifer International?

In my congregation we have a special place in our heart for Heifer, having visited the educational ranch in Arkansas together, funded two Gift Arks as a church, and even held a Heifer International Vacation Bible School one summer. 

 One of the most powerful parts of the Heifer International philosophy is the concept of Passing on the Gift - that every family who has received a live animal gift from Heifer International is expected to continue to grow that gift and to give its offspring to another family within their community. The video below is a short clip of a Passing on the Gift ceremony in Peru.

 

I wish this is what gift giving looked like at my house on Christmas morning!