Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Heifer International card

Jo Luck, President and CEO - Heifer International, holding the hand of an HIV victim in Africa. Photograph by Heifer/Card design copyright Brandi White 2009

Recently, I finished a card project with Heifer International. Since then I've become very interested in their approach to ending world hunger and poverty while caring for the earth. I'm so thankful to have had the opportunity to work with them and wanted to share a little more about Heifer with you...

Heifer is an organization with a mission to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and to care for the earth. "Passing on the Gift" is the concept...the gift is livestock and training, which helps families improve their nutrition and generate income in sustainable ways. Families agree to "Pass on the Gift" by giving one of its animal’s offspring to another family in need-view the gift catalog here

The card design included black and white photography of CEO{by Heifer}, Jo Luck, holding the hand of an HIV victim in Africa framed with gold embossing, "UBUNTU: I am because you are" printed on tab with sewn zig-zag stitch detail. The card also featured patterned paper, torn edges, gold embossed leaf, rubber stamped images, recycled button embellishment, hemp string detail, all handmade with love on recycled paper. The card was sent to people, including some celebrities, affiliated with Heifer on their birthday. One big name, that I know of, that was included in the 220 cards made was......Oprah!!!
I was able to visit Heifer International headquarters in Little Rock, AR to tour this green building certified by U.S. Green Building Council....LEED-Platinum level

Durability, maintainability, low toxicity, recycled content, and regional availability were taken into consideration when making material selections. Bamboo flooring, shown above, is a very renewable resource. The building was designed to use 55% less energy than a normal office building.

Five story water tower for storing collected rainwater Heifer building project took a brownfield, contaminated for years, and removed 75,000 tons of earth to transform it into a wetland area that controls, stores and reuses surface groundwater

Beautiful landscaping with plant selections native to the area
Green parking lot designed to move storm water through a vegetated runoff collection system that collects, cleanses storm water, and returns it to the environment. For more information about this Platinum Level LEED building herePaintings, fabrics, and other collections from around the world bring the spirit of Heifer into this workspaceConsider giving a gift that keeps on giving from Heifer! http://www.heifer.org/

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