A Little Summer Reading

I started this morning planning to blog about our weekend. It had highs and lows as most weekends do, and lots of things that didn't go as planned. Still, in the end, it was a good weekend. Just not blog-worthy today.

So what is?

Summer reading. This time of year I am on the lookout for "beach reads." You know, those easy-on-the-brain books that don't really require one to think. My sister calls them brain bubblegum. Nora Roberts and Danielle Steele fall into this category. In pursuit of such books, I headed to the library last week. Oddly enough I didn't find the typical lazy brain books catching my interest. Instead I "discovered" two new authors - Robin Jones Gunn and Lauraine Snelling. Both write Christian fiction, and have kept my brain quite satisfied.

But that still isn't what I really wanted to write about. What I really want to write about is a much more serious topic.

I was looking for an idea for a Christmas gift for my grandfather this past Christmas. He is one of those guys who goes out and buys whatever he wants or needs. Doesn't leave much for a gift list. My uncle and Dad are a lot the same. Maybe it is a generational thing. Anyway, I found Heifer International in my searches for the perfect gift. I purchased a portion of a garden basket for each of the 3 "have it all or will buy it" guys in my life.

Heifer International is a charitable organization that uses donations to provide animals and seeds as well as education to people in poverty-stricken areas. Most of these areas are in developing or 3rd world countries, but some of the donations stay right here in the U.S. of A.

One of the requirements of participating in the program as a recipient is that you "pass on the gift." For example, if you receive a gift of sheep, you must pass on some of the offspring to another family within a certain amount of time. You must also take classes in the care of the animals, minimizing environmental impact of your animals, and more. The recipient families often learn how to use their animals to earn additional income for their families (example - selling sheep's wool), thus making them self-sufficient.

This project strikes a cord with me because the community garden in which we volunteer strives to do much the same thing just on a much smaller scale. Many of our volunteers are also clients of the on-site food bank. They work as a way to give back to the community for its support. Their work is not required, but they come anyway.

So what does this have to do with summer reading? Today I received the quarterly publication from Heifer International, World Ark. I read the articles, and needed to share. Tonight I will be sharing with my family. Our daughters will be asked to donate a portion of their allowance to the church. I hope that we can encourage them to donate a portion to a charity as well. Reading the articles today made me think that this may be the charity. I hope they all see it my way. :)