Taken in 1994 at the Tibetan Autonomous Plateau of China

Rosalee Sinn WiLD Endowment

In honor of Rosalee Sinn's retirement, Heifer Foundation and the entire Heifer family have established an endowment in her name to support Heifer's work with Women in Livestock Development.

If you would like to contribute to the endowment, send your gift to : Heifer Foundation, c/o Rosalee Sinn WiLD Endowment, P.O. Box 727, Little Rock, AR 72207; or click here to make a credit card donation.

A member of the Heifer International staff for 39 years. Rosalee has served as Northeast Regional Director, Director of Development, Senior Advisor to the President and has just retired as Interim Director in the Mid Atlantic Region.

Rosalee received the Pearl S. Buck Humanitarian Award in 1989. An award shared by Beverly Sills, Erma Bombeck, Pearl Bailey, Helen Hayes, Audrey Meadows, Toni Morrison, President Corizon Aquino, the Statue of Liberty, Jean Stapleton, Audrey Hepburn and Hillary Clinton. In addition to this award she was named Educator of the Year by the American Meat Purveyors in 1992, and Alumni of the Year by the University of Connecticut School of Agriculture in 1993.

She has a Master's in Animal Science from the University of Connecticut. In 1980 and 1981 she taught a course in Dairy Goat Management in Cameroon and at the University of Connecticut from 1983-1987. Her book, "Raising Goats for Milk and Meat"is a sought after training manual by development programs. It has been published in China and used in publications in Haiti, India and other parts of the world. She was Secretary-Treasurer from 1993-2000 of the International Goat Association (IGA) and currently a member of the Board of Directors of IGA.
She is a respected member of the animal science community, reflected in such honors as being asked to give a major address in 1991 to the American Society of Animal Scientists on "Livestock: Good for People, Good for the Planet." She has presented technical papers on "The Role of Women in Livestock Development" and "Goats and Sustainability" for a number of international conferences.

Rosalee has visited HPI work in over 25 countries. Has visited or led study tours to Ecuador, Guatemala, El Salvador, Bolivia, Egypt, Honduras, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Egypt, Jordan, Vietnam, Thailand, India, China, Brazil, St. Kitts, Nevis, Antigua, Romania, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and in the United States in Mississippi, Kentucky, New York and Chicago. Her trip journals and photographs are treasured by her family and friends, by Heifer donors and project participants.

Founder of WiLD - Women in Livestock Development, a Heifer International initiative to focus on the needs of women for training and assisting them in moving toward self-reliance. The WiLD initiative was the beginning of Heifer's current Gender program.

She has written extensively for the media including articles in Guideposts, The Christian Science Monitor, Horizon Magazine, the Gorilla Gazette (of the US Embassy in Rwanda). She is the Executive producer of Heifer's award winning videos, Legacy for Efrain, and The Flame, and technical advisor for the video on sustainability: Remedies: Healing the Earth. The Christian Science Journal recently interviewed Rosalee for an article entitled "How Animals Foster Global Communities."

She is the liaison for Beatrice Biira of Uganda, who is the subject of Beatrice's Goat, published by Simon and Schuster and traveled with Beatrice throughout the United States to promote Heifer's work. The book was on the NY Times book list for 8 weeks.

Other accomplishments include: The building and development of the Northeast Regional Office at Overlook Farm in Rutland; initiated the "Partner in Residence" program at Overlook Farm that brings partners from Heifer's project areas to interact with volunteers and donors; Director of the 50th Anniversary of Heifer International in 1994; Director of the Heifer International World Hunger Conference in 1998; Coordinator of Heifer's Celebrity contacts from 1996-2001; Co-creator of the first Read-to-Feed program, a program which now has international support, including the Hong Kong International. The primary group in HKIS raised $150,000 in two years. Rosalee serves as Chair of the Board of Heifer Hong Kong and will continue in this role until a local board is selected.

Alison Geist, who worked for a number of years with a woman's goat project in Morocco and wrote a paper on Animal Wifery wrote in a letter to Rosalee: "What amazes me about you is how well you sustain relationships. I admire the way you weave webs of caring among people and between them into a gossamer thing that is both fragile and strong. I think it is this "craft" and I choose the word for the way it echoes of women's ancient and enduring work - which makes you so very adept at everything else, which you would also do, anyway, with skill and intelligence and humor. I am pleased to feel united in this way with an international group of strangers for whom love, and you, are the connecting force."

Rosalee says of her work with Heifer:
"Heifer International has enriched my life in countless ways. As I have met with donors and participants in the United States and around the world, I have come to respect the Heifer International program as the best development model in the world. Heifer changes lives. Goats and cows, sheep, rabbits, yaks and ducks may be the tangible gifts that enable change to begin, but it is our ability to work together as a global family that has brought new life and hope to millions. Heifer has given me a priceless global citizenship."

And of her family: "I have been blessed to have the support of my husband and my family in this work that has been my life's most urgent passion. They have been a sustaining factor as I have been in touch with my extended family throughout the world. The other things that help center me are milking a goat, walking by the ocean and enjoying the beauty of the earth."
Rosalee's husband Paul is a United Church of Christ Minister (retired). They have four adult children who live in Massachusetts. They have a grandson 20 years of age and 5 granddaughters, 18, 14, 14, 10 and 9 years. Rosalee's grandchildren call her "Baa". In 2001 Rosalee and Paul took Travis and Heather with them on a journey to Cameroon, West Africa, which Rosalee describes as the "best grand parenting experience of my life."

Rosalee Sinn WiLD Endowment Founders
Letter from Rosalee