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With the start of the holiday season, some Maryville College students are hoping that their peers stop and give pause to not just Christmas trees, angels and mangers, but to arks, too.

The students, members of the college's Peace and World Concerns organizations, have planned "Heifer Week" for Monday through Friday on campus. Named for the non-profit Heifer Project International, the week's activities are designed to draw attention to the problems of world hunger, poverty and environmental degradation and to raise $5,000 for, yes, an ark.

According to the Heifer Web site, one ark provides needy communities with 15 pairs of animals, including two cows, two sheep, two camels, two oxen and two water buffalo.

"Each family who receives livestock will pass on one or more of the animal's offspring to other families who are in need in their community," it states.

Students Chelsea Barker, Erin Kramer and Cate Culbertson are heading up various events and the fundraising. Students hope to raise most of their monetary goal through aluminum recycling. Collection bins have been set up in the college's residence halls and commuter lounge since Nov. 17.

The college's Residence Life and the Environmental Action Team (EAT) have helped promote and sponsor the event. And at the end of the week, EAT will turn in the cans and collect the money for Heifer donations.

Barker spent last summer interning at Heifer's Overlook Farm in Rutland, Mass., where she said her passion for ending world hunger and poverty - and her respect for Heifer's mission - deepened. (See sidebar.)

800 projects

Headquartered in Little Rock, Ark., Heifer Project International is a non-profit organization that provides impoverished people with education and basic needs, such as seeds and livestock to promote better health, income and self-sufficiency. It currently is sponsoring more than 800 projects in 50 countries.

With a history dating back to the Spanish Civil War, Heifer began with a Midwestern farmer and relief worker who was handing out a cup of milk every day to hungry children, only to realize that when he leaves, so does the milk, the students explained. He needed a cow to provide for these people, and that was how Heifer Project began - with sustainable solutions to major problems.

Culbertson said the non-profit's holistic approach to educate and sustain -- and not just feed -- appeals to her and several other students on campus. She believes that Heifer's practice of passing along livestock's offspring to needy families could be translated by blessed people in the United States, as well.

"People with very little can pass along a cow, so people as blessed as we are can certainly pass on our gifts," she said.

Culbertson said that giving even small amounts helps enormously; they raised $300 last year on change alone. Opportunities abound to help the cause, from donating in someone else's name as a Christmas gift to giving a flock of geese for $20, they said.

"We're college students without a lot of spending money," said Culbertson, emphasizing that the more people know about the opportunities to make a difference, the more they're likely to stay informed and give.

Heifer Week plans

Students and faculty from different departments and organizations are getting involved in the campus-wide cause. The art department has created a promotional banner. Related promotion and funding include Alpha Psi Omega's Heifer booth at an upcoming play, and the Global Concerns Organization will donate some of the profits from a dance, among others.

At 7 p.m. Monday in the Lawson Auditorium, faculty will lead a panel discussion entitled "Hunger, Poverty and Development Around the World." Following an introduction on Heifer Project's goals and development by Professor of Management Dr. Mary Kay Sullivan, several professors specializing in world cultures will give short presentations on the issues in their respective regions, how Heifer helps, and the current relevance.

From noon until 2 p.m. each day, the three Peace and World Concerns members will set up a booth for Heifer Project outside the Margaret Ware Dining Room. A demonstration will feature different student representatives eating rice in front of the dining hall to show how impoverished communities traditionally eat their meals. Animals from a local farm will be brought in to show the kinds of animals Heifer sends to poor communities and to draw attention to the important issue.

On Friday, the winner of the aluminum can collection contest will be announced.