Santa Rosa student's project supports families in Mongolia

Anna Hebert shows a display depicting her community service project supporting families in Mongolia. Photos courtesy of Polly Hebert

By Alyse Kiara Deatherage, Correspondent

Anna Hebert is a junior who attends Santa Rosa Academy. At only 16 years old, she has just completed her community service project that all students of Santa Rosa Academy are required to complete before graduation. This project tasks students like Hebert with creating a plan that will work to better their community, and Hebert has taken her project even farther by helping families in need all the way to Mongolia.

Hebert has been going to Santa Rosa since she was in the fifth grade. When she was in the seventh grade, she saw her older sister working on her community project and Hebert excitedly told her mom, Polly Hebert, that she couldn’t wait to start her project as well.

The project is due for all students at the end of their junior year, right before they start their senior year, but, because of quarantine, that due date has been extended to August for Hebert and the other juniors in her class.

When she started her project last year, she knew one thing for sure: she wanted to utilize a company called Holt International, because Hebert and her family, as well as some of her cousins and friends, have a very strong relationship with Holt for a very special reason.

“Holt is a very special company to us because many family members were adopted through Holt, including myself,” said Hebert.

Hebert was adopted when she was about 1 year old from China through Holt International. Polly Hebert explained that Holt deals with a variety of international familial situations, including cross-country adoptions, and they have also given back by building water wells and donating food to those in need.

Hebert and Holt staff members decided that they would buy livestock for families in need for this project. Hebert decided on buying livestock because she hoped it would sustain them for a long time, since it could provide a lasting income, and so she titled her project “Livestock for Life.” After looking at several places overseas to donate the livestock, they decided to go with Mongolia, because of the extreme poverty.

“So, then, I wrote letters to people and I was able to accumulate approximately $3,400 to buy livestock for people overseas, in Mongolia. We decided I would purchase cashmere goats and sheep for the families,” said Hebert.

Once they decided where to donate the livestock, they had to decide who to donate the livestock to.

“Anna’s idea was to give goats and sheep to several people, and what Holt recommended was to pick out three families that had experience with herding animals,” said Polly Hebert. “Each of the families have two or three children. They decided they were going to purchase an entire herd of goats and sheep for each of these three families.”

Hebert raised the $,3400 for the livestock by recycling in her home, as well as asking for recyclables from close friends and neighbors, and writing letters asking for donations to her project. In Mongolia, the currency used is the Mongolian Tugrik (MNT), and $3,400 USD is equivalent to approximately 9,515,735 in MNT.

“These people were living on 90 U.S. dollars a month,” said Polly Hebert. “They used to be helpers of other farms and now they’re able to have their own farms. They made a promise that they were going to raise these animals, work hard, and now be able to provide for their families.”

Hebert raised enough to buy over 100 goats and sheep, so each family got an entire herd of animals. Hebert and her family were very excited when they got to see pictures of the children in these families holding the goats and sheep that Hebert had raised the money to buy for them.

“It makes me want to keep on giving and it just opened my eyes that one little project, that I didn’t think would really get that far, could make a forever lasting impact on, not only those families, but the future generations of those families as well,” said Hebert.

As the summer continues and Hebert stays at home with her family during quarantine, she plans to continue working on this project and finalizing it before her due date in August.

“What stood out to me most was that one little thing can change a whole person's life, and I really enjoy that,” said Hebert. “It just makes me feel very happy to help out those who are less fortunate, and I hope that, in the future, I can do much more.”

The impact that Hebert had on this family was very encouraging for her, and she hopes to continue helping others and making a lasting impact on the lives of those who are less fortunate than she is.

Members of a Mongolian family with some of the livestock donated to them through Anna Hebert's community service project.