Collection Gift Guide: Do a Good Deed

Christian Gulliksen

December 1, 2004

HEIFER INTERNATIONAL
While volunteering as a relief worker during the Spanish Civil War, Dan West, an American farmer, realized that ladling out severely rationed milk to hungry children was a stopgap measure at best. After returning home, he formed Heifers for Relief and in 1944 sent the first shipment of 17 heifers from Pennsylvania to Puerto Rico. (He chose heifers because young cows that had not yet given birth were a continual source of milk; also the chain of giving could continue as recipients agreed that any subsequent female offspring would be passed along to another family.) Sixty years later, Heifer International has delivered a wide variety of domesticated animals and services to 115 countries around the world.

A gift to Heifer has a remarkably tangible impact. A dona­­tion of only $20 buys a flock of chicks that can become a source of eggs for a family in Zimbabwe, and $250 guarantees that an Asian subsistence farmer receives a water buffalo. Heifer also has a number of combination packages. The ultimate package, called the Ark, sends 15 types of paired animals (in some cases flocks) around the world–for instance, llamas to Bolivia, rabbits to China, camels to India, goats to Romania, geese to Ghana, and sheep to the United States. All of this, including transportation, costs only $5,000.

Heifer International
800.422.0474
www.heifer.org

Print ArticleEmail ArticleAdd to DiggAdd to Del.icio.us