Heifer International Gift Donations

Wednesday, December 20th 2006, 5:07 pm

By: News On 6

Finding the perfect Christmas gifts for the right people can be a daunting task. But thousands of people have found their perfect gifts in an organization called Heifer International. Through animal donations, they help struggling people from around the world survive and become self reliant. News on 6 anchor Jennifer Loren talked to a Tulsa woman who's discovered this is a gift that changes lives.

Doctor Caren Baird is Tulsa Veterinarian.

At home her love for animals is apparent.

So when Baird discovered Heifer International last year, she immediately began donating.

Last year she paid one hundred dollars for two goats and twenty bucks for a flock of chicks. This year, two sheep. But she never actually sees these gifts. The animals she buys go to needy people around the world, people like this little girl or this family, seen in a video on heifer dot org.

Dr Caren Baird, Heifer Internation Donor: "I know that its going to help families that need it and that's really all that matters."

But she makes the donations in friends and family members' names. Those are their Christmas gifts as well.

Dr Caren Baird, Heifer Internation Donor: "I've really been surprised by how much it really means to people when I give them these."

Baird feels giving a gift that actually changes people's lives is what gift giving is all about.

Dr Caren Baird, Heifer Internation Donor: "You're actually giving them something they can be self reliant on, something they can build a future on."

Heifer International recipients learn everything about their animals and how to get the most out of each of them. A single cow will provide a family with milk, from that they can make cheese and butter and then of course meat.

Bruce Peberley at OSU Extension Services says providing a family with a single animal will provide them food. But it will also create opportunities for economic growth and can change an entire village.

Bruce Peberly, OSU Extension Services: "So what we do is we raise the economies and the nutrition levels of a number of families over time."

A gift that keeps on giving, indeed.