Misstropolis

Monday, December 10, 2007

Not a Cup but a Cow: Heifer International

by Hadley Sharples Berkowitz

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Instead of the hottest video game or the latest incarnation of Barbie, Hingham resident Nancy Hoit will be buying livestock for her grandchildren this Christmas.

In their names, Hoit will give a family living in poverty a dairy goat capable of supplying them with several quarts of milk a day. In return, the recipient family must agree to share one of the goat’s offspring with other members of their community.

“I think most human misery and the possibility of real hope is a mystery to children,” says Hoit, who began contributing a portion of her holiday gift dollars to Heifer International seven years ago. “I thought this was a way to make it more concrete for them.”

The philosophy of giving hope and promoting self reliance to victims of hunger is one that has quickly caught on and represents a growing trend in charitable giving. Only six years ago, Heifer received about $8 million in donations; last year, the organization received over $90 million in donations.

Heifer provides 27 different kinds of livestock, including goats, cows, and chickens, to families in 47 countries around the world. Last year, Heifer provided animals to about 140,000 families. In conjunction with each donation of livestock, Heifer partners with local groups to help recipients learn how to care for the animals and grow crops in ways that can be sustained for generations.

The experience of the Evergreen Women’s Club, a group of Zambian women, illustrates how empowering a Heifer gift can be. Heifer provided 21 families with six goats each in 2001, allowing them to feed their families, sell the surplus milk for income, and use the goats’ manure as an organic fertilizer for their gardens.

“After the goats, there was such an excitement in the house and enthusiasm to look after them,” says Lilly Daka, a group member and mother of 10. “The offspring have given us milk and improved the appearance and health of our children.“

Daka says: “We are so excited to pass on the gift to another family. I still follow up and visit them as we have become friends. They are now part of my family.”

Heifer began shipping cows overseas in 1944, when Dan West, a relief worker in the Spanish Civil War sought a better way to help refugees than handing out cups of milk. West wanted to help families become self reliant, in charge of brightening their future. “Not a cup, but a cow,” West said and Heifer was born. Since that time, Heifer has assisted over 4 million families around the world.
The majority of Heifer’s donations comes from small donors and is raised through mailed solicitations and its annual holiday catalog of alternative giving. Ray White, Heifer’s director of public information says, “This provides us with 97 percent of our overall income, which means we are supported almost entirely by small gifts of $200 or less from hundreds of thousands of Americans.”

Heifer has benefited from several high profile benefactors, including former presidents celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Meryl Streep, Susan Sarandon, Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen. Heifer was one of a handful of charitable organizations lauded in Bill Clinton’s latest book Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World.

Educating people about the causes of hunger is another part of Heifer’s mission. Heifer operates several learning centers in the United States, including a farm 62 miles west of Boston in Rutland, Massachusetts.

Over 20,000 people visit Overlook Farm each year. The farm’s Global Village offers visitors a chance to participate in the types of sustainable agriculture the organization supports around the world.

“We’re hoping that these programs will help make better global citizens out of the people who come here,” says Pat Stanley, northeast community relations coordinator for Heifer. 

In addition to tours and programs aimed at school age children, the farm hosts programs for adults, a harvest festival in the fall and an international fair in the spring.