As we mark our 80th anniversary this year, it is not only a time to celebrate the work that Heifer International has done to help end hunger and poverty, but the people who have helped make it happen.
Since our founder, Dan West, first conceived of his “not a cup, but a cow” philosophy in the 1940s — encouraging the idea of sending animals abroad to help families in need — volunteers have been an integral part of Heifer.
In the earlier years, volunteers helped raise and transport livestock from the United States for recipient families around the world. The first shipment of heifers, to families in Puerto Rico in 1944, was made possible by volunteers donating their animals and time to the cause.
Mark Nestleroth, a Pennsylvania volunteer, along with his wife Hazel, was a hog farmer who first got involved with Heifer 47 years ago when the local Heifer volunteer committee was looking for farmers of livestock species beyond cattle. In the 70s and 80s he helped organize many hog shipments while also donating and getting paid for breeding animals from his farm.
“I also understood the Heifer mission and definitely could support it,” he said.
Today, animals are no longer shipped from the U.S., but our volunteers are still essential, and they have continued Dan West’s energy: Over the years, Heifer volunteers have helped spread awareness of Heifer International, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and passed on their own gifts, leaving a legacy to continue to help families in need.
Betty Malmgrem, a member of the Napa volunteer group in Napa, California, shared that “time, commitment, cooperation [and] shared values,” help make a great volunteer. In her volunteer role, she does photography and media outreach for special events the group puts on to help increase awareness of Heifer’s work.
Evie Trevethan, the Napa volunteer group leader, has been a Heifer volunteer since 2000 and has led the group to put on many events in the Napa Valley area. During this time, she has enjoyed, “many moments. Working with our local community group, making friends and spreading the word about Heifer locally.”
A highlight, she said, was “organizing a quilt project that sent two of our members to Nepal to meet with Heifer projects there and present them with our handmade quilt.”
Indiana volunteer Barb Oakes also had the opportunity to visit multiple Heifer projects through study tours, site visits that were offered until the early 2000s for volunteers to learn about Heifer’s work and share their experiences with the public when they returned home. In her “prime” volunteering days, Barb was “doing 10 or more Heifer ‘events’ a month. They were table displays at conferences, [or] filling the pulpit on Sundays in rural Methodist churches, big churches that had donated 35 Arks, etc.”
Not only was she speaking about Heifer during this time, but she was also helping raise money. “I was a big ‘marketer’ for the Water Buffalo [gift from Heifer’s Gift Catalog] … I challenged many groups to raise money for them with the promise of matching their gift. One church I thought might raise enough for two or three ended up getting eight! That was my most expensive challenge!”
John Brewer, a Sacramento area volunteer, said one of his most memorable moments has been combining his 70th and 75th birthdays into fundraisers. They “take the cake, so to speak,” he shared. “Friends and colleagues from all walks of my life attended, became acquainted with Heifer through displays, games, activities and testimonials and ultimately made generous donations.”
John’s fundraising actually began while he was deputy superintendent of schools in Sacramento. “It all began with a collaborative effort between Heifer’s then Sacramento office and our school district to involve our student councils in an effort to educate the student body in the effects of poverty,” he explained, “followed by fundraising efforts at all 10 schools. This project was a huge success.”
Mark and Hazel Nestleroth,” the Pennsylvania volunteers who first started organizing hog shipments for Heifer, have also enjoyed bringing together their community for Heifer’s mission.