After 25 years of serving communities with full support from Heifer International, Open Fields continues to accomplish the mission of serving the poor and those in need of assistance while caring for the environment, thus proudly carrying the legacy received from our founders.

To describe the essence of Open Fields and the work we do, one must go back in time, back to the first dawn of the pioneer organization, Heifer International. More than 80 years ago, in a devastated, hungry post-war Europe we find Dan West, a compassionate farmer from the American Midwest who went to the front lines of the Spanish Civil War as an aid worker. His mission was to provide relief, but he soon discovered the meager single cup of milk rationed to the weary refugees once a day was not enough. And then he had a thought: "What if they had not a cup, but a cow?

That "teach a man to fish" philosophy is what drove West to found Heifer International. And now, more than 70 years later, that philosophy still inspires its work to end world hunger and poverty throughout the world. Since 1944, Heifer International continued offering support in more than 40 countries, empowering families and communities to turn hunger and poverty into hope and prosperity.