Heifer International's initiative to end poverty and hunger through gifts of livestock, education and training

How do you gift wrap a goat? Or a cow, a pig, or a water buffalo?

With Heifer International's "Most Important Gift Catalog in the World," you don't have to. All you need to do is point and click, let your fingers do the walking, or fill out the order form and mail it back.

Soon, your goat, cow, pig or water buffalo will be delivered to a family in need, minus the tape, ribbons and bows, and it will be welcomed with smiles, laughter and the outpouring of joy that accompanies one of the best gifts a family could ever receive - a gift of hope and opportunity that will help them build a self-reliant future.

In unprecedented numbers, poor families in Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia and the Americas are hungry; more than one billion people go hungry every day, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Daily, almost 25,000 people - one person every three and a half seconds - die of hunger or hunger-related causes. Many of these are the most fragile - children.

Heifer International works to end poverty and hunger through gifts of livestock, education and training. Heifer's holiday catalog - The Most Important Gift Catalog in the World, landing in mailboxes this week, offers a host of alternative gift choices.

For example, instead of giving your niece or nephew a sweater, how about a sheep or a llama in their honor so that a family in need can produce sweaters to sell which provides greater opportunity for food, education, and the hope for a brighter future.

Every gift, no matter the amount, makes a difference to those who need it most. And every gift multiplies through Heifer's "Pass on the Gift" practice where every family that receives help passes on animal offspring and new knowledge to another family in need.

Heifer has produced The Most Important Gift Catalog in the World annually since the 1990s, when it pioneered the alternative gift catalog idea. Since then, millions of families have been helped. Since 1944, Heifer International has helped more than 12 million families - 62 million men, women, boys and girls - more than 1.6 million just last year.

Catalogs are also available online at www.heifer.org, under "Give," and "Online Gift Catalog." When you give a gift in someone's honor, you receive a card that explains their gift and Heifer International's work.