Mennonite
Central
Committee

Funds for MCC, one heifer at a time

Marla Pierson Lester
February 24, 2006

When Darrell Ranck gives to MCC, he doesn't pull out a checkbook or dig into his wallet. Instead, each spring, he looks into the paddock beside his dairy barn, determining which of his heifers he will donate for an annual heifer sale.

For the past nine years, the Lancaster County dairy farmer has donated a heifer, a young female cow, to be auctioned to raise money for MCC's work abroad and in the United States and Canada.

Since it began in 1981, the Pennsylvania World Relief Heifer Sale has provided nearly $1.5 million for MCC. The sale, which will be March 15 at the New Holland Pennsylvania Sales Stables, is part of the annual Pennsylvania Relief Sale fundraising effort.

Giving heifers becomes a tradition for dairy farmers. Ranck's father regularly donated a heifer to the sale, and Ranck has done so each year since he took over the farm. "It seems like once a farmer gets involved in giving, he continues year after year, or every other year," said Dale Hostetter, co-chair of the Heifer Sale.

Declining Donations

However, family farms are under increasing pressures from development, and donations have dropped, said Hostetter. Once, about 50 heifers would be auctioned at the sale, he said. Less than half that number has been auctioned at recent sales.

Hostetter noted that many long-time donors have left farming. He said he believes some farmers were forced to stop donating heifers during lean years in the 1990s and have not resumed.

Expanding the Network

Yet he dreams of expanding the network of farmers who participate, whether by donating a heifer, promoting the sale in their areas or buying a heifer. Hostetter, who lives near Gap, Pennsylvania., visits about 20 farms each year to ask for donations.

"For this to happen, you need someone in the community to visit farmers," he said.

At home Ranck pulls a Bible from a kitchen counter. "The Lord wants us to give," he says, citing examples such as the instructions in Romans 12:13 to share and practice hospitality and the passage in Matthew 25 where Jesus says that "whatever you did for one of the least of these ... you did for me."

"There's needy people around the world we can't invite into our house and show them hospitality that way. We give what we have," Ranck said.