The Gift of Chickens :: Heifer International

Several years ago, my brother and I made a pact that we would stop buying cheap plastic toys for each other's children at the holidays. We agreed that we would organize toy swaps for the cousins at the holidays; if we purchased gifts, they would be second hand toys, games, etc.; and we would donate to at least one charity on their behalf every year.

The pact wasn't to deny our kids of fun (or toys), but to reduce our families' spending as well as teach our kids that they could still find joy in playing with used toys.  We also wanted to cut down on the number of new toys that would eventually find their way to landfills due to our respective families.  The toy swaps went well - I found my old Barbie dolls in my parents' attic, and my nieces were thrilled.  My brother found a set of child-sized doctor scrubs that his girls never played with, and my oldest son now insists on wearing them to preschool at least once a week.

The charitable giving didn't go quite as smoothly.  Although we felt good about contributing to worthy causes on behalf of our children, our 6, 4 and 2 year olds struggled with grasping such an intangible concept.  One thing all of the cousins have in common is a love of reading.  Aware of our families' love of stories, I realized that I could drive home the point of the charitable gifts while giving my nieces something they would enjoy.

With a half-hour worth of research, and some quicky design thanks to Microsoft clipart, I put together a book that brought our gift to life for my nieces.

Our family donated money on my nieces' behalf to purchase a flock of chickens through Heifer International.  Heifer does a great job providing informational materials for gift givers and receivers alike, but few of these materials are geared toward young children.   I chose two locations to which the chickens might be donated and created a short story about those who might be helped.  Here's the result:

Thanks to the internet, I could track down country flags, popular surnames and short phrases in the native languages of the potential chicken recipients.

I kept the text clean and simple so that one day, my nieces might read much of the book themselves.

It was my hope that the girls might understand the impact that these dollars could have across the world.

I had the book printed at a local copy shop and stitched it together with thread. The girls loved the book, and my own boys have enjoyed reading the story at our house, as well. With a little extra time and thought, we were able to make the meaning of giving come to life for the little people in our own lives.