Atlanta Marathon Runner, Eric de Groot, To Raise Funds for Heifer International In the Race to End World Hunger

Heifer Project International
Thursday, 1 November 2001

ATLANTA - Dutch-born international business consultant Eric de Groot is running his 15th marathon on Thanksgiving Day in Atlanta at Turner Field. This time he is dedicating his effort to raise funds for Heifer International, a non-profit world hunger organization based in Little Rock, Arkansas. The 2001 Atlanta Marathon is just the beginning of de Groot's efforts to help Heifer International. Funds for Heifer will be collected before, during and after the event.

Since 1944, Heifer has donated milk and egg producing farm animals, draft animals, and agricultural training to poor families struggling to meet their basic needs.

As an advisor to international firms on the cultural norms of doing business in different countries, de Groot works to improve multicultural sensitivity and awareness of language barriers in foreign ventures. He says he likes Heifer International because it promotes the kind of "citizenship of the world" ideals in which he believes strongly.

"In light of recent terrorist events, it seems more important than ever for us to create world peace by taking the initiative to reach out," de Groot says, "so that every man, woman and child will eat everyday and have the means to be self-reliant. It's more than justice. It is the right thing to do."

After seeing recent news reports on the horrors that Afghanistan women and children have been living with, it became clear to de Groot that Americans must help transform in a humane way lands that breed terrorism.

Heifer International has helped marginalized cultures all over the world, and works tirelessly to give them the means to have a steady source of food and income. Since 1994, Heifer has assisted hundreds of Afghanistan families in refugee camps in Pakistan. Heifer is committed to maintaining a presence in selected refugee camps where there is sufficient stability to provide training and animals.

There is an urgent need for additional funding for the expansion of these programs, says Dr. Robert K. Pelant, Heifer's Asia/South Pacific Director, who is Heifer's main U.S. contact with Afghanistan and Pakistan. Heifer plans to increase aid by $200,000 to help over 10,000 refugee families, mostly widowed women and children who have no means to support themselves.

Heifer International empowers small communities through gifts of livestock, micro-credit loans, and holistic small-scale farming and marketing training. In return, each recipient promises to pass on the animal's first offspring to another family in need, thereby lifting entire communities out of poverty.

de Groot believes that the power of multiplying such a gift will keep families united and help end world hunger, which is a major factor in the development of terrorism and the abuse of women in many countries. At a time when we have so much to be thankful for, he hopes that his marathon efforts will raise awareness of the proactive work of Heifer International in its race to end world hunger and promote peace and justice where it is needed most.

For more information on the Atlanta Marathon and how to sponsor Eric de Groot in order to raise funds for Heifer International, please contact Hilary Smith, the director of Heifer's regional office in Atlanta at (404) 373-5112. For more information on the work of Heifer International, please call (800) 696-1918, or log on to www.heifer.org.

Since 1944, Heifer International has provided struggling families a way to become self-reliant for food and income. Through the gift of livestock and training, a family can obtain milk, eggs, wool and other income-producing benefits to feed, clothe and educate their children. Each gift multiplies because every family that receives a Heifer Project animal promises to "pass on the gift" by giving one or more of their animal's offspring to another family in need. Heifer International currently supports over 300 projects in 47 countries, including the United States, which create sustainable small-scale farm enterprises to improve nutrition and supplement income. Local community groups conceive and manage Heifer projects, empowering them to solve their own problems and equipping the next generation to face challenges successfully. For more information about the work of Heifer International in Pakistan and Afghanistan, please see the report on the Heifer Website.

For more information, or to contact Heifer Project International, see their website at: www.heifer.org