This month, students at Olympic View Elementary School will read more. And somewhere in another part of the world, a needy family will receive a farm animal - perhaps a cow, goat or llama - all because of the students' efforts.
Each year at Olympic View, the student council selects a community service project that the school will participate in. This year, with the help of principal Timothy Moynihan, the students decided they wanted their peers to take part in a service project unlike any the school had done before.
They agreed upon Heifer International's Read to Feed program, which combines promoting literacy in schools with helping to fight hunger in developing countries.
Heifer International, whose mission is "to work with communities to end hunger and poverty," takes a unique approach to providing nourishment to families in need. Instead of donating nonrenewable sources, Heifer provides animals to families. Milk from cows and goats, draft power from buffalo and wool from llamas give these families more long-term benefits.
OPENING EYES
As part of the program, students get sponsorship from family and friends for every 20-minute session they read this month, according to Moynihan. When the program ends on Monday, March 26, the student council will collect money from students and decide what type of animal they will sponsor the purchase of for Heifer to donate to a needy family.
"I liked this program because we get to read, have fun and raise money at the same time," said second-grader Betty Schwensen. She was one of 40 student-council members who helped select the Read to Feed program as this year's schoolwide community-service project.
Moynihan explained that not only do students get to help others around the world through Read to Feed, but they are learning about the Heifer organization and the benefits it provides. Heifer sent the school educational-support materials and books, including testimonies from Heifer-donation recipients who describe how the program has helped them.
The school librarian also contributed to the program by setting aside books about countries where student donations might go.
"I think [the students] are enjoying the program," Moynihan said. "They're seeing, in a tangible way, that they can do something to make a difference in the world."
A HISTORY OF GIVING
The Heifer organization, founded in 1944 by Midwestern farmer Dan West, started as Heifer for Relief. The organization began providing not only livestock, but training to families to raise the livestock, as well as teaching "ecologically sound agricultural practices and community development," according to the organization's website.
The Heifer organization was named for the young cows (heifers) that were donated to malnourished families in places like Puerto Rico.
Heifer asks that any families who receive an animal pass the offspring of that animal on to other families. Through passing along "the gift," Heifer has helped 7 million people in more than 128 countries.
"I think the idea that the gift is ongoing is really one of the strengths of what Heifer does," Moynihan said. "Ten years from now, there may still be an impact from what we are doing here at Olympic View today."
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