A Sweater for Dad, Earrings for Mom . . . .and a Hive of Bees for the Dominican Republic

Now there's a list that Santa Claus would want to check twice! But did you know that instead of giving poor and hungry people just a hand-out, it's possible to give them a hand up?

In the 1930s, during the Spanish Civil War, Midwestern farmer Dan West was rationing milk sent by farmers in the United States to starving children in Spain. He was distressed because there was not enough to go around. He had a powerful insight. "These kids don't need a cup, they need a cow," his modern day followers are found of quoting Dan as saying.

West returned home to his farm and started a group called Heifer Relief. A heifer is a young cow that has not yet given birth. So a heifer will not only supply milk to its owner, but more cows, too! West's dream was that those whom Heifer Relief helped would care for themselves and then pass the gift along by giving a heifer born of their cow to some one else in need. In 1944, Heifer Relief sent its first shipment of 17 heifers to Puerto Rico. Some of the kids whose families received the animals had never tasted milk before.

Today, Heifer Relief is called Heifer International. Each year at Christmas, it publishes a unique wish book catalog. Instead of dolls and board games, it offers sheep and goats--and hives with colonies of honey bees! You send in the money, and Heifer International purchases and delivers the livestock to needy people from Appalachia to Zambia.

These churches and church organizations support Heifer International:
African Methodist Episcopal Church
American Baptist Church
American Friends Service Committee
Church of the Brethren World Ministries Commission
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Episcopal Relief and Development
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
National Catholic Rural Life Conference
Presbyterian Church/Presbyterian Hunger Program
United Church Board for World Ministries
United Methodist Committee on Relief

HI has an office in Chicago, too: 3944 West Irving Park Road Chicago, IL 60618; 877-474-8224. Check out the Heifer website .

Catholic Connections

"Through mutual cooperation, all peoples should be able to become the principal architects of their own economic and social development."
Justice in the World, 1971 Synod of Bishops.

Reflection Questions

Why is it necessary, as the saying goes, not only to give hungry people fish for dinner today, but rather to teach them to fish?

Join us in to discuss these questions!