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 About
Heifer International:
International is a nonprofit, humanitarian organization
dedicated to ending hunger and poverty and caring for
the Earth. Since 1944, Heifer has pursued our mission
by providing livestock, training in environmentally
sound agriculture to those with genuine need. Heifer
project participants receive training and support to
enable them to become self-reliant. Recipients also
agree to “pass on the gift” or one or more
of their animals’ offspring and training to others
in need, creating an ever-widening circle of hope.
 Heifer
International has had a great experience with WomenOnCall.org.
We attended the Meet-and-Match in 2008 and met Peggy
Rubens there. She was enthusiastic to get involved and
jumped in right away to work at Heifer booths and signed
up to be on our Grazing on the Green Committee (our
annual benefit). Peggy impressed us all with her diligence,
humor, great ideas, hard work and giving spirit, so
much so that we asked her to chair our 2009 Grazing
on the Green benefit. She is an invaluable asset to
Heifer International and we are lucky to have her on
our team.
About Peggy Rubens:
As a sporadic volunteer for a variety of random
organizations for many years, Ms. Rubens had wanted
to find a place to be able to participate in more than
a gardening day here or a classroom painting afternoon
there. The challenge had always been her ability to
commit to a set schedule, which limits some volunteer
programs that have specific time requirements. A brief
radio mention of the 2008 WomenonCall.org Meet &
Match proved fateful for her! Ms. Rubens decided to
give the event a try and, though disappointed that she
was unable to make the rounds to all the tables during
the course of the evening, she wandered among the remaining
exhibitors after the official “matching” period.
As luck would have it, the Heifer International table
was at the end of the room and Aly Sowers was still
willing to spend time talking about the organization
and all the great work they do. Heifer is one of those
organizations that Ms. Rubens had heard of, and even
clipped articles about, but never really knew much more
than that they were the folks who gave out cows!
 After
that conversation with Aly, Ms. Rubens was hooked. Planning
for the organization’s annual fundraiser, Grazing
on the Green, was just getting started and Ms. Rubens
was in the process of trying to make a professional
transition from the for profit world into the nfp sector;
participating in the planning of the event had the potential
to offer great experience and additional networking
opportunities. While her professional background was
varied, she had experience in catering sales and event
planning. Knowing of her interest in making a career
move, however, it was suggested that Ms. Rubens become
involved in the Program and Education Committee, which
proved quite interesting and helped to broaden her experience.
Six months later, after many committee meetings, communications
with various vendors and other volunteers, Ms. Rubens
was thrilled to be a part of such a terrific event –
it was a great evening and very successful in beating
our fundraising goals.
This year, Ms. Rubens was very flattered to be asked
to Co-Chair the event. She is now on the recruiting
end of the volunteer spectrum! Had she not made a volunteer
connection through WomenOnCall.org last year, she had
no idea that she would have been able to make such a
difference – in her own life, as well as in the
lives of so many others, through the great work of Heifer
International.
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