Honors College to hold ‘Livestock’ concert to benefit Heifer program

On Thursday, April 1 students and members of the community can help fund Heifer International’s social aid while listening to good music and enjoying a beer at Bears Den Pizza.

UCA’s Honors Council will host the 12th annual Livestock benefit concert from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. The cover charge will be $5

Melinda Wheeler, a junior ambassador of the Honors Council, said Livestock 2009, hosted at Juanitas, raised over $2,000.

“This year, we want it to be as big if not bigger … it’s the same night as Charlaine Harris’s visit, but the concert will be going on all night,” Wheeler said.

Patricia Smith, staff adviser and coordinator of student services at the Honors College, said the Honors Council plans to combine earnings from the past three years, which have not been given yet, with this year’s earnings as a great lump sum.

Smith said Heifer funds the particular project, or “ark,” with donations depending on the amount of money an organization donates.

Smith said the Honors Council will give an ark valued at $10,000, an initiative called Women in Livestock Development (WiLD). “This [initiative] focuses on raising money to reeducate women in the areas Heifer deals with,” Smith said.

“This will be the biggest gift we’ve ever given,” Wheeler said.

Smith thinks this year’s proceeds will surpass the amount remaining to afford the ark, putting the council ahead for future Livestock events.

Director of Gender Equity Martha Hirpa at the Heifer office in Washington D.C. said, “WiLD is an initiative that began in 1988 … it was founded to bring women together so they have access to skill building and coherence in the community.”

“It gives pay to women who are socially isolated in developing countries … WiLD specifically aims to build the leadership capacity of women so they can enter into a mainstream economy,” Hirpa said.

Hirpa said WiLD is an initiative within Heifer’s Gender Equality program which implements gender equality practices at a grassroots level. She said such measures constantly bridge the gender gap and create an equalized playing ground on which men and women can forge strong partnerships.

Heifer.org offers accounts of women who, with funding, were able to create self-help initiatives, women’s unions, and agricultural cooperatives.

Livestock 2010 will feature four music acts: Jerene Makia, Cerro Gordo, Townsend and Oakland. Each musical act has some affiliation with the Honors College, Smith said.

“We wanted to give [these musicians] an opportunity to play,” Wheeler said. “They’re willing to do this for free and want to take part in the tradition … each band offers something different. There’s something for everyone.”

Smith mentioned student Jerad Young, who graduated in the mid-90s and continually comes back to play at the benefit concerts. Now, Young is an accomplished musician in California.

“Hopefully we’ll have another student who gets inspired and comes back every year to play our shows,” Smith said.

Smith clarified that though this is the Honor Council’s 12th year of funding Livestock, the Honors College has been hosting Heifer-benefit concerts even longer.

“…We’ve been hosting benefit concerts since Jerad Young and his band originally hosted in 1994. So, we are in our 16th year of concerts, but the name ‘Livestock’ wasn’t attached until several years later,” Smith said. Years later, the Honors Council started hosting the event.

The Honors College has been involved with Heifer International for about 15 years, ever since the Honors College started sending freshmen students on fall retreats to the Heifer Ranch.

“Our students got invested in learning about the organization and they were sold on [Heifer's] ideas. They really started to understand and support the cause,” Smith said.