Mission and History

Mission

Heifer International mission is to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and to care for the earth.

History

Heifer International is a non-profit, non-governmental organization, which works to alleviate hunger, poverty and environmental degradation. It was founded by Dan West, a farmer from Indiana who was serving as a Church of the Brethren relief worker in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. When he became frustrated at being forced to decide how to allocate a very limited amount of food aid he founded Heifers for Relief, an organization dedicated to providing permanent freedom from hunger by giving families livestock and training. The basic philosophy of Heifers for Relief was based on the proverb, "Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; you have fed him for a lifetime".

Dan West asked his friends to donate heifers, so hungry families could feed themselves and in 1944, the first shipment of heifers left York, Pennsylvania for Puerto Rico. It was the beginning of many such "Heifer Projects" and the beginning of a new way of thinking about humanitarian aid. To ensure that the gift animals would have a lasting benefit in the region, he asked each participating family to take education in animal husbandry, and to agree to donate any female offspring to another family. In this fashion, he imagined that a single gift would multiply far beyond the original investment. Dan West's phrase "not a cup of milk, but a cow" became the mantra for Heifer International.

As Heifer grew, its approach evolved, strengthening the roles of the communities and project participants. Under the energetic leadership of its first executive director, a man named Thurl Metzger, Heifer began working with communities in many, many countries. While Heifer is rooted in the Christian tradition, its approach in the field is neither religious nor political. "We were operating without politics", says Metzger and this allowed us to work where others could not; for example, in Muslim and Communist countries.

Today, Dan West's idea is a dramatic success and Heifer International is a world-wide organization which helps struggling poor rural families become more self-sufficient for food and income. This assistance includes farm animals, training and technical help. The essential part of Heifer International's philosophy is passing on the gift. It means that recipients of the animals agree to pass on first female offspring to other group members and share their new skills in animal breeding with other in the community. Thus HPI helps people to develop themselves and their community through living loans, which are repaid in kind.