T
he Jewish sage Maimonides enunciated as the
highest form of kindness, the giving, not of money but
the means to self-sufficiency: work, in other words, an
unending source of income. That is the mission of Heifer
International, a charity founded by an Indiana farmer, Dan
West following his relief work during the Spanish Civil
War when he observed the many orphans and refugees
it left in its wake. "A cow, not a cup" was West's motto.
It sounds like a sentence Gertrude Stein might have
written, and it evinces horse sense as well as kindness.
In 1944, West and his fellowship, the Church of the
Brethren, began sending to Europe cows donated by
West's neighbors so that families in need would have
a mainstay, producing milk and meat. Today, Heifer
distributes throughout the world a virtual ark of some
thirty income-producing animals—from goats, geese
and guinea pigs to honeybees, chickens, silkworms
and water buffalo. Heifer's philosophy is that if enough
families in a community obtain new sustainable produce
and income, other benefits—schools, agricultural coops, savings and loan societies and entrepreneurial startups—will follow.
HYLAND
