Heifer Sacramento joined in celebration of all things wild at Walk on the Wild Side outdoor festival held at the Beach Lakes Preserve near Freeport to learn about wildlife and conservation. Our volunteers were busy helping kids make bee bracelets, talking about how wildlife works with agriculture and how Heifer helps people in poverty.

Darrian spins for a prize for answering what a heifer could produce to help a village.

Jill Kilty-Newburn will make a presentation

Spinner – Jill has purchased a new, lighter spinner to replace our attractive but very heavy spinner to take to events. Cheryl will be working on some graphics to go in each of the 12 slots. We’ll keep it simple and try to make it useful for most situations.

•       July – summer break / no meeting
•       August TBA
•       September 9
•       October 7
•       November 4

Vll. Next meeting Monday, June 3, 2013, Campus Commons Board Room 6:00 pm

l.  Recent Events
1. Americorps volunteers on 3/28 – This event was attended by Sue Bennett, Pat Sayer-Handley, and Kirk Fujikawa. Sue Bennett reported that this event was successful and well-attended held at the Coloma Community Center. Sue, Pat and Kirk were kept busy talking to interested Americorps volunteers about Heifer’s work, volunteer opportunities, and paths to careers in Heifer.

      
ll. Partnership with CSUS students


We can use additional volunteers at any of these shifts, especially the May events.

Sunday, April 21, 11 am – 4 pm
Southside Park, between T & W, 6th & 8th Streets, midtown Sac
Early shift:  John Brewer, Suzanne Awalt, JoAnn Peter
Late shift:  John Brewer, Susan Rumberg, Deanna Torres

Saturday, May 18, 10 am – 4:30 pm
Beach Lake Preserve, Freeport
Early shift:  Pat Sayer-Handley, Susan Sundell
Late shift:  John Brewer, Judy Grimshaw

Sunday, May 19, 10 am – 4 pm
American River Soil Born Farm, Chase Drive, Rancho Cordova
Early shift:  Cheryl McKinney, Susan Rumberg
Late shift:  John Brewer, Melody Murray, Cheryl McKinney




Material resources. Susan Sundell updated us on the status of the various Heifer material resources available and stored in her garage as we gear up for the upcoming events.

Two for one. Who doesn't like that? Generous donors and international partners have offered to cover half of new project costs in Honduras and Guatemala through matching donations. This is a great opportunity to help poor families in these central American countries lift themselves out of poverty and build resilient communities. We need to generate $831,000 from generous donors like you. Two for one. We don't want to leave any of the match on the table! Donate to these projects now.

Heifer's work in Honduras has already helped families broaden their source of income through the gifts of diary cows and chickens and the extensive training. These projects have already achieve successes through multiple Passing on the Gift ceremonies, where initial recipients pass on the next generation of livestock to others in their community. These gifts have also made the families more resilient. When a drought in 2012 destroyed the corn harvest, milk income from a Heifer cow helped supplement income from existing cashew harvests.

Heifer Guatemala has helped improve the nutrition and food security for poor families through the gifts of chickens and goats. These livestock provide valuable protein that the families would otherwise ill afford on a regular basis. The extensive training and participant committment to the 12 Cornerstones have built communities among families in remote rural areas.

Read more about Honduras projects and Guatemala projects.

Donate now and do twice the good for families in Guatemala and Honduras.

The fundraiser sub-committee and CSUS students Kelly Cassidy and Anne-Marie Jara, reported on the status of event research/planning, which is planned tentatively for a weeknight in April.  The students report success in previous years with putting on a Casino Night to reach young people. The event would include food and alcohol sales and offer donated prizes.


The musical FUN-raiser is set for Friday, March 29 from 7 pm to 9 pm at Arcade Public Library, 2443 Marconi Ave, Sacramento. John Brewer is organizing musical friends who will invite supporters for both their performances and for Heifer. A special page on Team Heifer has been set up to accept online donations. 

III 2013 Earth Day Events 
Based on previous experience with spring Earth Day events, we have identified those that most worthwhile and beneficial for our group to attend. The list of Earth Day events we plan on attending follows.

• Sacramento Earth Day – April 21, 2013 from 11 am to 4 pm at Southside Park (volunteer spots covered)
• Sacramento City College Earth Day – TBD
• Walk on the Wild Side – May 18, 2013 from 10 am to 4 pm at Beach Lake Preserve, Freeport (2 afternoon volunteer spots still open)
• Soil Born Farm Day on the Farm – May 19, 2013 from 10 am to 4 pm at American River Ranch, Rancho Cordova (volunteer spots covered)
• United Methodist Conference – June 20/21, 2013 from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm at Sacramento Convention Center (Jill will attend)

V Hunger at home

Many donors and those we speak with about Heifer’s work are interested in what Heifer is doing about hunger here at home in the community. Heifer’s only current domestic project is Seeds of Change located in Appalachia and in the Arkansas Delta regions. Jill described that the initiative is only in the first year of a five-year process, even though we have been aware of the initiative for some time.

 

We discussed the new film “A Place at the Table”. More information and a trailer is available throught the link.

On Friday, March 1, Magnolia Pictures released the movie documentary on American hunger titled "A Place at the Table" by Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush. The movie drives home several important points. 

1) There is enough healthy food for every American.

2) With the increasing poverty in our country as a result of the ongoing recession and other reasons, over 50 million Americans (one in four children) receive some form of government or charitable food assistance. 

3) This generation will live sicker and die younger than their parent's generation. 

4) Cheap, processed food is the only option for many Americans and the result is poor diet, chronic disease (diabetes, obesity, etc.) and rising health care costs. 

5) Faith-based groups are working hard to provide adequate food for all adults and children, but they cannot meet all of the needs. If churches could solve the problem, they would have done it by now. 

6) This is a question of patriotism. If another country was doing this to our kids, we would be at war.  

The movie is available on i-Tunes, cable and satellite on-demand and in selected theaters.