Global Food Initiative gives four grants to start off the year

The Church of the Brethren’s Global Food Initiative (GFI) has given its first round of grants for 2024, supporting an aquaculture project in the Dominican Republic, a grain mill project in Burundi, a maize mill project in Uganda, and Syntropic training in Haiti.

Two grants made in 2023 have not previously been reported in Newsline, for a school-based organic food production and environmental awareness effort in Ecuador, and to First Church of the Brethren, Eden, N.C., for its community garden.

For more information about the GFI, go to www.brethren.org/gfi.

To donate to the work of the GFI, go to https://churchofthebrethren.givingfuel.com/gfi.

*People help plant a community garden supported by First Church of the Brethren, Eden, N.C. Photo by Regina Holmes*

$15,402.06 was grants to support an aquaculture project in the Dominican Republic. The installation of the aquaculture system on church property in San Jose is a project of Iglesia de Los Hermanos Communidad de Fe (Community of Faith Church of the Brethren) representing the Haitian Kreyol-speaking churches in the Dominican Republic. The bulk of the materials for the system come from a company, Acuaponia Dominicana, which provides training and consulting services. Three members of Communidad de Fe participated in an eight-hour training course in November 2023. A local board will help oversee the project. Funds from the sale of the first harvest (at six months) will be returned to the project. Profits from future harvests will be divided between the national church and the local church. There is also hope of building more tanks in the future.

$4,000 is given to a grain mill project in Burundi, where the Church of the Brethren has grown rapidly since its founding in 2015 and is now focused on strengthening the 50 existing congregations and preaching points. The church, which does not receive an annual support grant from Global Mission, has done a good job of developing income to become self-supporting. This project serves a community of about 3,000 people, and is likely to produce income for the church as well as some church members. Grant funds will cover the cost of the mill, a building, installation, transport, and electricity.

$2,500 supports a maize mill project in Uganda, aiding the Hima Church of the Brethren congregation to purchase a second motor to hull and grind grain. GFI made an initial grant of $5,000 for the project in 2021. Currently the motor must be moved between the huller and grinder, considerably slowing the process and resulting in long lines of people waiting for their grain to be processed. The purchase of a second motor is a one-time expense and is expected to double the speed of the process.

$1,500 helps seven people participate in Syntropic training in Haiti, where many areas are faced with erosion and food safety issues. For many years, the GFI has supported agriculture projects of l’Eglise des Freres d’Haiti (the Church of the Brethren in Haiti), including fruit and forestry nursery, small animal husbandry, seed production, and plantain production. Syntropic farming has proven effective in reforestation with fruit and forestry plants. Five agronomists and two church leaders were selected to take part in the training, with the hope that they will share the knowledge to the more than 20 communities served by the Haiti Medical Project.

2023 grants not previously reported in Newsline:

$8,590 was approved for a school-based organic food production and environmental awareness effort in Ecuador, at the Brethren School in Llano Grande, a suburb of the capital city Quito. This school has historic ties to the Church of the Brethren but is independent of the church. The project includes training for 13 teachers and also will invite participation from parents under the traditional “Minga” model of multiple generations working together. Around 1,000 primary and secondary students will participate directly. Funds and program are handled by the Fundacion Brethren y Unida (FBU – Brethren and United Foundation), a non-governmental agency that grew out of the work of the Church of the Brethren in Ecuador beginning in the 1950s.

$1,625 was given to First Church of the Brethren, Eden, N.C., for its community garden. The congregation is located in the Spray section of Eden, a community with a wide diversity of cultures, races, economic situations, and family structures. In the community garden’s first year, fresh produce was delivered to over 50 families in the community. A second plot will be added in year two and plots may be made available to members of the community to plant their own gardens.

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