From the President
Steadfast, with fresh footprints

Jo Young Switzer President Related links: MC Mission, Values, Vision and Strategic Priorities

I WAS A CHILD WHEN I FIRST HEARD THE STORY OF DAN WEST’S work in post-civil war Spain. The story goes that he was distributing fresh milk to hungry children in a rural area that had been devastated by war. He thought, “Wouldn’t it be more helpful if we could give this family a cow so they would have milk all the time?”

Dan West ’17 was an entrepreneur whose moral compass guided his good questions and ingenious ideas. Only a servant-leader such as Dan could think of making gifts of cattle and then actually transform those dreams into realities.

Dan’s dream got legs in 1944, when farmers from Indiana headed to Europe on a ship to deliver noisy, hungry cattle from their own farms.

Since those first deliveries by the “Seagoing Cowboys,” Heifer International has transformed the heifers of the 1950s into water buffaloes, bee hives and chickens. Dan West’s concept of developing a gift that would keep on giving now is a staple of U.S. philanthropy.

In this Manchester magazine, we celebrate people who change lives through service, music and bold new initiatives. These giants of change include musicians, soccer players and campus experts in energy efficiency. They are farmers and opera singers. They research the energy possibilities of algae and help young, impoverished mothers care for their young.

We celebrate the creative and diverse people who carry on the
Manchester College tradition of valuing the infinite worth of each
individual.

JO YOUNG SWITZER
President