Alternative to craziness of Black Friday, Cyber Monday

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Nov. 22, 2010) – We are less than a week away from Black Friday, which is immediately followed by Cyber Monday, two of the busiest—and most harried—shopping days in the United States. Here’s an alternative to the craziness:

Heifer International.

Through Heifer International, you can give a gift to your father, mother, sister, brother or that hard to buy for in-law, but the gift offers more than gift-wrap tearing joy and oohs and aahs from Christmas morning witnesses.

The one honored by the gift gets the warmth and comfort of doing good, along with a handsomely designed honor card, but the one who receives the gift—a family in need of help with food, income and opportunity somewhere in the world—receives a cow, goat, sheep or other animal, along with training in its care and training in environmentally friendly agriculture. It’s a gift that makes a difference—one that can actually save a life or provide a hopeful future.

For example, you can give your niece or co-worker a sweater, or you can buy a llama in their honor, and the family in the Andes mountains of Peru who receives the gift can use the wool from the animal to make a sweater for warmth or to sell at market for income to feed their family, pay school fees for their daughter or secure medical care.

You can buy a music player or a pad computer or you can buy a heifer, which can provide a family milk for nutrition, manure for improving their garden, and baby cows, one of which will be shared with another family, part of Heifer’s Passing on the Gift promise, to multiply the benefit of giving.

For most of us in America, a cow is an animal we see in a field and that provides milk. But for many in the world who live on less than $2 a day, a cow is a living savings account, a source of milk protein and income.

So this year, as you ponder your shopping lists, and you set your alarms to mix with the 3 a.m. crowds on Black Friday and fire up your computer to get the best deal on Cyber Monday, please remember that there are alternatives, there are ways to give gifts that matter, that people appreciate, and that provide real benefit, real transformational change.

Visit www.heifer.org and peruse the Most Important Gift Catalog in the World, or call (800) 422-0474 and ask for a copy of the catalog to share with your family, friends, coworkers.

This year, consider gifts that do good, that matter—to the person honored by the gift and to the family who receives the gift, the hope and empowering promise it provides.

About Heifer International
Heifer’s mission is to end hunger and poverty while caring for the Earth. Since 1944, Heifer International has provided livestock and environmentally sound agricultural training to improve the lives of those who struggle daily for reliable sources of food and income. Heifer is currently working in 50 countries, including the United States, to help families and communities become more self-reliant. For more information, visit www.heifer.org or call (800) 696-1918.