Happy 2nd Day of Christmas — Boxing Day!

If your Christmas went anything like almost all of mine have, a big part of the celebration involved eating more food than is probably wise. This year, we made lasagna as our main dish, and my mom went way overboard (as is standard in our family) with pastries and cookies from our favorite Italian bakery in New Jersey. Breakfast this morning was leftover pastries, which means we’ve now maybe gotten about half-way through what we had in front of us.

While the sensation of having over-indulged so much is usually constrained to one of a few holidays, it’s certainly true that the feeling of not having enough to eat is much more rare for me, and probably most folks reading this. And I’ve never experienced the uncertainty around food which is a daily occurance for hundreds of millions of people, all over the world.

Heifer International works to ensure that as few people have that experience as possible. Their mission is no less than ending world hunger and poverty. They do this by working with individual families and communities, providing resources which can address not only an immediate need like day-to-day hunger, but also provide a way to improve the long-term prospects for the recipients and their communities. Heifer aims to provide gifts which not only feed people, but can provide a long-term source of new food, education, or economic activity.

One of the things I find most fun about giving through Heifer is their gift catalog. Instead of just a cash donation to their general fund (which is totally great if you want to do that), you can decide you’d like to give a specific thing that the people and communities Heifer is helping will benefit from. This year, I was able to buy someone a goat; in previous years, I think I I’ve bought bees and part of a goat. Each gift lists how it will be used not just as a one-time consumable, but to help lift a family and community out of poverty. It feels more direct… and it’s fun to say you just bought a goat. :-)

Please consider helping Heifer in their ambitious work to end hunger and poverty across the world.