Cyndi Loza

A Sparks teacher will venture to Central America on Thursday to help Honduran families in need.

Donna Sosnowski, a fourth-grade teacher at Sun Valley’s Virginia Palmer Elementary School, will travel to Honduras to participate in Heifer International’s Study Tour. The nonprofit organization selected 31 educators from across the country to participate in a project that aims to teach educators about the issues associated with the root causes of hunger, poverty and environmental degradation and how they can help alleviate these problems.

Sosnowski is the only teacher representing Nevada.

“It’s just such an honor,” Sosnowski said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity. I don’t feel worthy. I just like it because it’s such a service.”

Since 1944, Heifer International has provided struggling families in more than 50 countries a way to become self-reliant for their food and income by providing them with livestock and training.

With this donation, the organization gives a family accessibility to milk, eggs, wool and other income-producing benefits to help feed, clothe and educate their children.

The gift is meant to multiply because each family is asked to give one or more of their Heifer animal’s offspring to another family in need.

Money for the animals is raised in part by students through the Read to Feed program. Students at schools across the county raise money through the program by finding community members to sponsor their reading. They also learn about geography, the economy and families from a variety of countries that they can help by participating in the program.

At Palmer Elementary School, students raised $254 for the cause.

“Most kids, I can tell, get really turned on (to reading) by Heifer because they have a concrete connection in their head of what they’re doing,” said Christine Volkmer, spokeswoman for Heifer International. “They begin to see the full circle of the impact of a $20 dollar gift or a farm animal for a family in need.”

For more information on Heifer International, visit www.heifer.org or call 800-696-1918.