PERRYVILLE -- Live chickens sound like a dubious Christmas present -- even for the relative or friend who already has everything.
But a flock of baby chicks is one of the rewarding purchases that visitors can make on Saturday and Sunday while attending the Holiday Open House & Living Gift Market at Heifer Ranch near Perryville.
The chickens won't actually show up in a cage gift-wrapped with a bow under your recipient's decorated tree. They'll be given in their name to a striving family somewhere in the world. Donation of animals is the mainstay of nonprofit Heifer International's ongoing mission since 1944 to ease rural hunger and poverty by helping people help themselves.
As spelled out in a brochure from Little Rock-based Heifer, "Through your gift of a flock of chicks, families from Armenia to Zambia can enrich their inadequate diets with nourishing, life-sustaining eggs. The protein in just one egg is a nutritious gift for a hungry child. Heifer helps many hungry families with a starter flock of 10 to 50 chicks."
Heifer is a crown jewel among Natural State entities, widely admired around the globe for doing good in some 120 countries. This weekend's visitors can watch a video about Heifer's work and learn more from exhibits in the visitor center. There'll be guided tours to other areas of the 250-acre ranch, including the chance to take pictures with the animals, perhaps even a llama. Hot chocolate and cookies will be offered.
Guides will explain that Heifer was founded by Christian-focused farmer Dan West amid the social and economic desolation as World War II ended. The main stipulation he set down for distributing animals, still part of the Heifer credo, is that recipients pass along to others in their community the offspring of the livestock they've been given.
For some years after the Arkansas ranch opened in 1971, it served as a holding area for animals to be sent abroad. Now the livestock is acquired for the most part in the country where the recipients live, while the ranch has evolved into a learning facility.
The ranch's gift shop is amply stocked this weekend with jewelry, clothing and other conventional gifts. It's also the place where visitors can buy animals to be donated abroad in the name of a friend or family member.
Sending a flock of as many as 50 chicks costs as little as $20. For larger animals, a fractional share can be given at $10 for a goat, pig, sheep or trio of rabbits. A share of a llama is $20, with a share of a water buffalo running $25 and a share of a heifer cow pegged at $50.
Sponsoring the gift of an entire animal starts at $120 for a pig, goat or sheep. It goes up to $250 for a water buffalo and $500 for a heifer.
Included is a card explaining the gift to your recipients. They can feel good at the thought of a gift going from them to someone who needs it -- and feel relieved that they didn't have to unwrap a crate of live baby chickens.
Heifer Ranch, at 55 Heifer Road south of Perryville (on Arkansas 9 & 10) and about 30 miles northwest of Little Rock, is regularly open to visitors 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Hours for this weekend's Holiday Open House & Living Gift Market are 5-8 p.m. Saturday and 3-6 p.m. Sunday. Admission to the center is free. For details, visit heifer.org or call (501) 889-5124.
Weekend on 12/08/2016