Read to FeedŽ is a creative program that allows children to change the world, brought to you by Heifer International.

I am happy to announce The Barefoot Storyteller's new Read to Feed additions begining Autumn 2009: With Pre-K & Kindergarten I will be reading The Chicken and the Worm, and for the 3rd & 4th grades there will be Winter in Songming, both by Page McBrier, who also wrote Beatrice's Goat.

During these special storytimes, as those of the past with Beatrice's Goat or The Day Papa Came Home, we read the selected cultural books, and enjoy the beautifully designed companion coloring pages. Educating about world hunger, poverty, the environment and the world of Heifer International.

The issues raised by Read to Feed address countless related topics such as the root causes of hunger and poverty and depletion of the earth's resources. Children will be inspired as they learn how solving just one problem often helps to solve others.

The program encourages children to read for pleasure and understanding, and it is empowering. Children discover that they have the power to change the world. In addition to a global education opportunity, Read to Feed provides the opportunity to discuss other important cornerstone issues central to sustainable development (which is Heifer's goal) such as the importance of:

Goal setting - Nutrition - Gender equity - Self-reliance - Accountability - Improving the environment

Read to Feed will foster in your children a love of reading, a passion to help others and a way to help create a better world.

Heifer International began this program as a fund raising opportunity. The Barefoot Storyteller enjoys sharing the stories and the lessons without the donation part, but for those who are interested in the entire program, this is how that works. As a group, children read Beatrice's Goat, or The Day Papa Came Home, to learn about Heifer's mission and how sustainable development methods work. Children get permission from their parent or guardian to participate in the service-learning (fundraising) portion of the program. Children decide which animal gifts they would like to "purchase" through Heifer International for struggling families. Time and fundraising goals are set and the children, individually or as a group, get sponsors for the number of books, or units of time, they will read. Children begin reading books and participate in group discussions about hunger, world population, global food distribution, cultural diversity, sustainable development, the environment and other important issues. At the chosen time, children collect the money from their sponsors, and The Barefoot Storyteller sends the total of the donations to Heifer International.

Read to Feed is a reading motivation/service learning program. Children are inspired to read more books for pleasure, while raising money, through sponsored reading, to help end world hunger and improve the environment.

Other books on our Heifier International reading list:

Heifer International works to end world hunger and save the earth. For close to 60 years, Heifer has helped more than four million impoverished families in one hundred twenty eight countries lift themselves out of poverty and achieve self-reliance. The idea is simple and it works. Instead of providing hungry families with a non-renewable source of food, Heifer International provides a "living loan" of an animal. The family's health and standard of living is greatly improved by what that animal can provide. This might be milk from a cow or goat, eggs from poultry, meat from rabbits, draft power from water buffalo or wool from llamas. Key to success of the program is that Heifer provides extensive training in animal care, ecologically sound agriculture practices and community development. The result is to transform not just families, but the environment and community. Another key cornerstone of Heifer International is "passing on the gift." Families who receive an animal repay the loan by passing on one or more of the animals' offspring to other needy families. That family passes on their gift to another family and so on. So one gift multiplies through the community. Heifer International currently provides more than twenty seven types of animals that provide food and/or income to struggling families in forty eight countries (including the United States as well)

TheBarefootStoryteller@Barefoot-Storyteller.com

The Barefoot Storyteller is a proud member of the National Storytelling Network

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