The sermon opens with Meg, alone at the podium….
Last week, one of those periodic catalogues from Lands End arrived at our house. I flipped through the pages, stopping when I came to the shoes. What a lot of choices! From Clogs to Driving Mocs to Action sandals -- I see many more "wants" than "needs."

Now let's go back in time. Some years ago in this country, in the 1930s and 40s, people didn't have so many choices. Money was scarce and families made do. Back then, not many people could afford shoes just because "they wanted them."

In that era, a young Indiana girl named Jan came back from town wearing a spankin' new pair of brown lace-up shoes. She ran into the house to find her father. "Daddy, I have new shoes." He looked at her, not at her shoes, and said, "Janey, Darlin', do you really need them?" At first she was hurt -- she wanted him to be excited too. But she gathered her courage and explained that her feet had grown, her toes were hurting in her old ones, and Mother said it was time to get shoes that fit. Only then did her father look at her shoes -- he touched the nice leather and smiled. He understood. She wasn't asking for extras, just a pair that fit.

I heard that story last fall on a Heifer International Study Tour to China with Jan West Schrock, the daughter of Dan West. Jan and her brother Phil were our tour leaders. The point of Jan's story was to show how their father's values permeated their childhood, and to recall a very different time in this country, when war and sacrifice were closely linked in everyday life.

Dan West's values were these -
Simplicity.
Service.
Peace.
He was known to say, "If a person has more than three pairs of shoes in their closet, someone is doing without." In the late 1930s, his focus on service and peace led Dan West to dream of a new way to feed hungry people. That dream is now called Heifer International and it was Heifer staff who showed us a side of China that most tourists never see.

In rural China today, money is still scarce. Our group traveled to villages where farmers' homes sometimes have running water.... sometimes not. Rarely is there hot running water. Most homes have electricity but it is used primarily to light a single dim bulb in each room. We saw no mechanized farm equipment -- no tillers or trucks or tractors. On these farms, human bodies provide the power to produce food.

For the most part, the farmers we met were mothers, men with disabilities or injuries, and older people. They remain in rural areas to do the work while most of the stronger men and the single women work in the cities, in construction or factory jobs. Cash remittances from their salaries are keeping kids in school and perhaps buying some of the consumer goods now flooding China. As for shoes, we noticed that rural people wore boots or sandals or sneakers -- practical shoes, not fashion footwear.

In poor villages just like this, all around the world, Heifer International helps fight hunger and poverty.

Heifer does not work directly with farmers, but instead, with community groups that select their own leaders. Heifer contracts with the group for three to five years of assistance. The organization, called a project partner, selects the individuals who will receive animals and training in animal management.

When these first animals give birth, their owner gives the babies to another family in the village, along with the training needed to raise still another generation of healthy animals. In Heifer lingo, this is call "passing on the gift."

In China, our group was invited to three community "passing on" ceremonies -- once it was sheep, another rabbits, the third pigs. Thus, in each project, the benefits flow from one family to another and, over time, there is more food, better food, more cash when surplus animals are sold, maybe new shoes, but especially, more education for children.

Heifer International is known as a "values-driven" organization. What this means is that Heifer's twelve important core principles - called the Cornerstones -- determine how projects are set up and run. It's the job of all Heifer staff, including volunteers, to make sure every project implements the Cornerstones. To use the language of modern management, that's called "walking the talk."

We saw all twelve Cornerstones in action in all the projects we visited, and even saw them in picture form -- a poster on the wall of a community meeting hall, right under photos of Mao and Deng Xiaoping. But Passing on the Gift is the most dramatic example. As part of each passing on ceremony we joined, the family receiving the gift signed a contract agreeing to pass on their baby animals to yet another family.

Putting values into action is what congregations like ours in the Unitarian Universalist tradition are about as well.
We have our seven UU principles.
Heifer has its twelve Cornerstones.
Today, in your Order of Service, there's a brochure that lists the twelve. When you take time to read it, you will see immediately the close coincidence between the Cornerstones and our own seven UU principles.

This morning, by focusing on Heifer's values, it's my hope is that we Unitarian Universalists will learn from Heifer's way of "walking the talk". It's my wish that we too, here in Frederick, will walk our talk, living every day in ways that make our seven UU principles come alive.

I'm also hoping that you will consider donating to Heifer. It's our tradition here at UUCF once a month to split our Sunday offertory with a social justice organization. Our Social Action Committee has selected Heifer International to be the beneficiary in February. So today, any cash you put in the basket, or checks marked "Plate", will be divided between UUCF and Heifer. If you want your entire check to go to Heifer, write that on the check memo line.

Now, let's go deeper into the heart of Heifer's work. Please put on our traveling shoes as we go back in time, a little more than 60 years. Today, we have a special guest, a person who can tell us more about Heifer's values than perhaps anyone in the world. He's a man whose vision gave birth to a project called Heifers for Relief, whose the task was delivering live heifers to hungry people.

My friends, may I introduce to you ---- Dan West.

[In the following monologue, John Menke impersonates Dan West, founder of Heifer International. This monologue was written to give you some insight into the background, vision, and early days of Heifer International. So, sit back and enjoy this dramatic presentation where time stands still.]

[West enters the room slowly, hands in pockets, wearing a cream-colored shirt open at the collar with sleeves rolled up to elbows, brown wash pants, a belt and nondescript lace-up shoes. He is simple, plain, and modestly confident as he delivers his speech with quiet strength and meaningful pauses.]

Good morning. My name is Dan West and I feel privileged to be speaking to you under this unusual circumstance. After all, it is not many of us who have a chance to come back to talk with others, some 35 years after we die (though I understand you have had some movies along this line in the last several years). As I have prepared for this talk, I’ve had the chance to get to know John Menke rather intimately! And I appreciate his lending me his body today. And please pardon my use of notes: I’m getting a bit old for this (over 100), and my memory is not what it used to be.

You should know that by trade I am a farmer, educator, and environmentalist with a deep faith in God and in people. By the grace of God, I am a father of five, a husband, and a member of the Middlebury, Indiana, Church of the Brethren.

Good folks back then had a habit of calling me, Dan West, various things behind my back, like prophet . . . legend . . . visionary. Well, those are a bit exaggerated: I like my cheese a bit milder than that. My mother taught me to do my duty and then forget about myself. Well, the things I’ve achieved are products of my experience and inspiration, and working with others.

I believe that when a fellow goes to meet his maker, everyone should realize there’s little point in talking about him much anymore. Now, I’ve been gone from this Earth of ours since 1971. But I have the time for one more speech.

To be honest, there’s not much special about me. I have had a few . . . ideas. Eh, maybe that’s not strong enough. Dreams. Impossible dreams. Luckily, a group of motivated people—people a lot like you—got behind those dreams and they were the ones who turned the dream—my dream-- into reality.

And you can do the same. If we work together, we can steer the habit of war into a way of peace and prosperity for everyone. Finding this path is what my dream has all been about.

Many years ago, my young family, my wife and children, settled on a farm in northern Indiana. I say “my family,” because I never really settled anywhere. I never felt quite comfortable staying in one place for very long. My amazing wife, Lucy, ran the farm, taught school, worked with our church, and looked after our children. While she was busy with this, I traveled the country as a youth worker and Christian educator for the Church of the Brethren. For many years I traveled across the U.S. leading youth camps, trying to inspire young people to see the greater world and guide them to commit to a life of meaning and service. I wanted them to become world citizens.

It’s important that you understand the values of our Church of the Brethren: to live a simple life and a life of service. Similar to Unitarian-Universalism, we’re a peacemaking church, though we’re mostly agrarian. We search for ways to make a difference beyond our own households, our communities, and our national borders.

The best example of a Brethren I can think of is my father. Landon West was fifty-two when I was born. He lived during the Civil War in southern Ohio. A farmer and preacher, he wanted to do whatever he could to help the slaves fleeing from the South, so he assisted the underground railroad movement and then, in Circleville, started one of the first African American Churches of the Brethren.

Under my father’s influence, I came to believe that my focus should be on others. Just as in your own U-U church, the touchstone of this belief is understanding the tremendous worth that is inherent in every human being: I understand that this is actually your “First Principle”. To achieve our purpose in life, we must recognize human worth, celebrate individual differences, and assist in developing each person’s potential.

Of course, nothing devalues human worth and destroys human potential more than war.

Caught up in the concerns of a world heading into war, in 1937 I left my understanding wife and two young children and headed where I knew I was needed . . . to help the victims of the Spanish Civil War. Many of you probably know little about the Spanish Civil War. This war lasted for three long years. All civil wars are terrible as brothers fight against brothers, but this one was even worse as world powers, including the Nazis, used groups in Spain as their proxies in the fighting. After years of warfare, even as the country and its people became decimated, there remained innocent women, children, and old men still alive, but now dying from hunger. Huge numbers of the young men had been killed, homes and barns were burned, farm animals killed. There was little to eat, nowhere to go.

Our team from the Mennonites, Quakers, and Church of the Brethren provided used clothing and reconstituted powdered milk to help these people stay alive. As workers, because we otherwise might be tempted to give away our own food, we were actually required by our leaders to drink a quart of milk and eat an allotment of food every day. But it was hard for me to swallow my own portions knowing others were hungry. And every day, I saw the same people standing in line, waiting for their food allotment. I saw the loss of dignity as they relied on our handouts.

But soon an ugly practicality emerged. We saw that many of the babies were dying. With our limited resources, we could not save them all. We began to weigh the babies, when we found babies that were losing weight despite our efforts, we stopped providing milk to them knowing they would die soon. These were the kinds of choices we had to make. But as we worked, I continued to think of my own healthy children at home. And meanwhile, the grassy slopes and fields of Spain reminded me of northern Indiana where people still ate well and had plenty of milk from the cows that grazed on their land. [pause]

I had to think: why were we unable to use the milk from our cows feed the hungry in Europe? Why was this effort so frustrating? And so very ineffective?

But then it became crystal clear: Why couldn’t we just bring them some cows so they could feed their own children? Not only would they have the milk for their children, but dependence on relief would then be overcome and people would have work and could begin rebuilding their lives.

It seemed so simple: The idea became an obsession. It wasn’t a cup of milk they needed, but a cow!

Back home, I began speaking cautiously to friends about my dream. I could feel that it was a pretty big idea, but that’s my “thing.” I just sprinkle ideas on the ground like seeds—some sprout, some don’t. Lucy told me it was impossible, but I persisted anyhow.

One friend put aside his skepticism long enough to take me to the superintendent of animal husbandry at Goshen College. This professor suggested that instead of sending adult cows we send bred heifers –that is, young pregnant cows-- to Spain. They wouldn’t need to be milked during transportation and would soon produce calves.

Next, those northern Indiana faithful caught the vision and they came up with the idea of requiring each recipient to pass on their gift. Each person receiving a heifer would become their own donor of a heifer to another person. That way each recipient would become a donor. Dignity would be restored! Our gifts would just keep being passed on and on, becoming the difference between welfare relief and true sustainability.

If you’ve ever seen the faces of people standing in a breadline, you’ll know why this was an important idea. People want to get beyond handouts. What they seek is a “toehold” that can restore self-reliance. For these people, a cow could be that toehold. You see, relief in itself can be degrading, but if you pass on what you receive, it becomes ennobling. In giving, we are blessed even more than in receiving.

Even as we developed these ideas, the world plunged into World War 2. Because of the war, we could no longer help the still starving children of Spain, but I kept on pushing the heifer concept to anyone who would listen.

One day, a gathering of men in my congregation asked me to present my plan for sending heifers to places where children were hungry. They loved the idea, but I told them I couldn’t find anyone to donate the heifers that were needed: we hadn’t been able to get started.

“Have Faith, Dan,” said farmer Virgil Mock.

“I’m trying,” I said, “But I need your help.”

“Have Faith,” he repeated, more insistently.

“Yes, Virgil, I most certainly will.”

“No, Dan,” he said. “I mean have my Guernsey calf, Faith. That’s her name.”

Next thing I knew, everyone was speaking up. “I’ll furnish the feed,” volunteered Mr. Stine.

“I’ll feed her and care for her,” said Stine’s son, Claire. Two other Guernsey heifers were donated that day, one by Miss Bessie Burns and the other by the Goshen City Church of the Brethren. They were named Hope and Charity, to go along with Faith. What an incredible day!

So now we had the initial offerings of animals, but now how in the world was I going to get these animals where they needed to go? In 1942, the Brethren Service Committee provided shipping to central holding farms in the US; one of them was the Roop farm in Maryland (near Union Bridge, very near here). But we still had no transport for them.

At this point, a very important thing happened: we invited people of other faiths to participate in the project and formed the Heifers for Relief Committee. Mennonites, Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, and even some Amish gave heifers. Farmers began to raise heifers specifically for the hungry. They just did it on faith, hoping that there would be a way to get them to suffering people. Heifers for Relief captured the imagination of many denominations as a response to world hunger. It was tangible and sustainable, and people loved the idea of the “pass-on.” Soon publicity leaflets were printed and ear tags were used to identify these special gifts. But we still didn’t know how they would be sent.

About this time, a group of Brethren visiting Puerto Rico told stories of a critical need for food there. So in January 1944, Heifers for Relief and the Farm Security Administration agreed to ship the heifers to Puerto Rico. The heifers were dedicated in a worship service at the Rock Run Church of the Brethren in Goshen, Indiana. Faith, Hope, and Charity were there that day, along with fifteen other bellowing Guernseys, Jerseys, and milking Shorthorn heifers, plus a new calf that had already come. Soon they were on their way to Castaner, Puerto Rico. Eleven years later, two of the cows from that first shipment were still milking.

This was the tiny beginning of the worldwide, interfaith, self-help program known today as Heifer International.

After the war ended, The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation program provided transportation to send our heifers and also horses to Europe to help with the reconstruction. We needed deckhands to care for the animals and accompany them to their destinations: Thus, the “seagoing cowboys” were born. Most were conscientious objectors. And there were some “cowgirls” as well. For eight years shipments of about sixty animals were sent at six-week intervals in the hold of the SS American Important. Thousands of seagoing cowboys boarded the boats and went on to witness the ravages of war in Europe, and later in Asia. Most speak of their experience as “life-changing.”

As the years passed, developing nations began to request help from Heifer. Not all had the skills in livestock management, so we partnered with them to make sure they had training and skills to be successful farmers. Human beings want to be actors, not spectators, in their liberation from poverty. Unless people feel they can grow as human beings, master their own destinies, and share in decisions, no amount of material effort will liberate them. Human beings also long to live in a peaceful world where their children are well nourished and educated.

I talked to Meg and John about their recent trip to China. The main purpose of that trip was to observe how the modern Heifer program is working in a land of incredible poverty, and promise. I understand they have already talked about their trip in several sessions in this church, so you may already have a pretty good idea about how Heifer works. Their experience was that the core ideas
· Cup not a cow
· Passing on the gift
· Emphasis on dignity and community building
are alive and well in Heifer. Perhaps we can answer some questions after the sermon.

Yes, the day may yet come when we all agree to turn our swords into plowshares by laying down our guns and doing everything we can to build sustainable communities.

My own wish as the mid-Western farmer Dan West, is to be remembered as a peacemaker, and as a motivator for people to take action once they understand this simple truth: Peace begins when the hungry can feed themselves. Let us work together to learn how to live simply . . . . so that others may simply live.

Thank you for listening today!

[The above monologue was originally prepared for the 60th Anniversary of Heifer International. It was written by John Haman and Jan Schrock and modified by John Menke with permission of the authors. Jan West Schrock, member of the Church of the Brethren and former director of Brethren Volunteer Service, 1987-1994, is Senior Advisor for Heifer International and works from her home in Westbrook, Maine. John Haman, graduate of Hendrix College in Arkansas, is an actor and award-winning playwright. His play Undraped will soon be professionally produced.]