Riverside, Calif., April, 2000--Paintings, art posters, greetings cards and even a burlap canvas. These artistic items might not have everything in common, but, at La Sierra University, they are all "Cow Art."

About 30 works of art - each with a distinctly bovine motif - will be offered at a thematic art auction in the School of Business and Management on Sunday, April 16, 3 to 5 p.m. Event proceeds will support the unique "cow bank" project sponsored by the La Sierra University chapter of Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE).

General admission is $15 and $5 for students and includes an all-vegetarian buffet. (Cow auction protocols likely mean no hamburger or roast beef fare.) The auctioneer will be Rich Biber, executive director of the Parkview Community Hospital Foundation, and all ticket sales and art proceeds will support SIFE economic development efforts in India.

During the last few months, La Sierra faculty, staff and students have worked on paintings, posters, ceramics, greeting cards and textiles for the auction. Irrespective of where the creative muse took them, two criteria had to be met. "The work had to have some marketable quality and it had to have a cow-related theme," said Heather Miller, SIFE faculty fellow. This may already sound like a bizarre "Far Side" cartoon, but there's more. Community artists have also made donations for a wider selection of cow-inspired artwork.

In fall 1999, La Sierra SIFE first devised the cow bank project to help families in the village of Karandi, India. The plan follows a micro-lending model and calls for the eventual purchase of 20 milking cows. The animals will be loaned to families that complete training at a SIFE-established training center. When the first-born female calf from each cow reaches 15 months, families will give the calves back to the cow bank to repay the "loan." Families with the SIFE cows will not only enjoy the nutritional benefit of consuming milk in their own homes, but also the economic reward from milk sales at market.

"In this village, a family cow is the equivalent of owning a BMW," said Miller. "But unlike a car, this loan can make these families economically self-sufficient."

Karandi is an agrarian village in southwestern India, about 25 miles from the city of Pune. Poverty is typical among the village's 1,000 inhabitants; cow ownership, however, is not. Most rural Indians can't afford the typical $500 price tag needed to purchase a milk-producing heifer.

SIFE has partnered with the Pune Mideast Rotary Club, which is providing local veterinary services, training expertise and on site-management for the project. Training will be given for milking, birthing and even artificial insemination so families can eventually manage herds of milk-producers. Students on the SIFE team are confident that the project will benefit all 160 families in the village within five years. The cow bank heifers are crossbred between the local Indian stock and a European bull. The local genetics are better suited for the sweltering Indian temperatures and the European genes mean higher milk production.

To date, SIFE has purchased six cows and club members hope that proceeds from the Cow Art Auction will be enough to buy more. The cow-themed art creations can be previewed at SIFE's new website, www.sifelink.com. For additional information, please call (909)785-2225.

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