Modern Goddess Magazine

The simple idea of giving family a source of food rather than short-term relieve is how Heifer International started.  Their mission is to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and to care for the earth.

What I love about Heifer’s strategy is that people can “gift” an animal to a family in need, and that family, then ’passes on their gift’ by giving their animals’ offspring to other families.

Heifer International started when a mid-west farmer and relief worker was ladling out rations of milk to hungry children during the Spanish Civil War.  At that point Dan West realised that the children didn’t need a cup, they needed a cow.  With that thought in mind he returned and formed ‘Heifers for Relief’.  In 1944, the first shipment of 17 heifers left York, Pennsylvania, for Puerto Rico, going to families whose malnourished children had never even tasted milk.

West chose heifers because they are young cows that haven’t given birth and they make them perfect for not only supplying milk, but also supplying a continued source of support.  Each family that receives a heifer agrees to “pass on the gift” and donate the female offspring to another family, so that the gift of food is never-ending.

Today people can gift a sheep, llama, goat, water buffalo along with a flock of geese, chicks and ducks.  You can still gift a heifer as well as a range of other animals. Heifer’s many initiatives include providing clean water, to assisting those with HIV/AIDS and training people on animal well-being.

As this site is dedicated to empowering and inspiring women, I love that Heifer has a program called WILD - Women in Livestock Development.  The program teaches women how to support themselves and their family through keeping livestock.

Watch the video below to see how one woman succeeded on the WILD program.