Global Food Initiative closes out 2025 with last set of grants for the year

The last set of grants for 2025 from the Church of the Brethren’s Global Food Initiative (GFI) rounded out the year by supporting needs around the world, from Honduras to Rwanda, Nigeria to Ecuador, as well as local projects in Pennsylvania.

Find out more about the GFI at www.brethren.org/gfi

Support these grants financially at https://churchofthebrethren.givingfuel.com/gfi

Honduras

$35,000 is given to Proyecto Aldea Global (PAG) for its Small Animal Microbusiness Projects in Honduras. PAG is a frequent grantee for both the GFI and the Emergency Disaster Fund, with a longterm relationship with the Church of the Brethren. For more than 40 years, it has been “empowering families to reduce poverty and build just, peaceful, and productive communities based on Christian values.” Honduras is challenged by high rates of poverty and social inequality. Most rural households depend on agricultural production as a main source of food and income. However, rural families without access to land for the cultivation of crops must find other economic activities to supply food for their families, to generate income, and employment. The goal of PAG’s Small Animal Microbusiness Projects is to improve food supply and family income of Honduran families through the implementation of pig and chicken raising projects. These small production projects supported 40 new families in 2025, ensuring adequate family nutrition and generation of additional family income, while teaching farm families the proper skills for management and reproduction of pigs and chickens. Additionally, these projects will seed future projects, as this project follows a “passing on the gift” style model, where families “pay back” the project by reproducing more chickens and pigs to give to a second group of 40 families to start their small animal projects.

Rwanda

$19,000 supported the Kanembwe Poultry Farming Initiative in Rwanda, where 69 percent of rural households are dependent on small-scale farming and about one third of children under 5 are malnourished. The Church of the Brethren in Rwanda has witnessed firsthand how families struggle to feed their children, with many relying on unsustainable aid. The situation is even more alarming among the Batwa ethnic group, who experience exclusion from economic opportunities. The Church of the Brethren in Rwanda has started a Kanembwe Poultry Farming Initiative to address food insecurity in the Gisenyi region. This project will benefit the local community by 1) increasing the supply of affordable protein (chicken meat and eggs), 2) providing employment opportunities for vulnerable people, 3) training community members in poultry farming, and 4) facilitating the distribution of food aid to hungry children. This project will also create employment opportunities, with a special focus on the Batwa, women, and other vulnerable groups, while also providing poultry business start-up training to community members.

$1,780 supported the Church of the Brethren in Rwanda’s work on clean water projects to pipe water for 22 Batwa families in Kanembwe, representing roughly 92 people. Currently, community members walk more than a kilometer to access water at the church pig farm (a past GFI project). This access to water has been life-changing for the Batwa in Kanembwe, who previously did not have water for hygiene, cooking, or clean water for drinking. Though this water access has been extremely helpful, the long walk carrying water in jerry cans is still a significant burden. This project will extend a water line from the pig farm area toward the Kanembwe settlement, laying pipes by trenching and installing a tap close to the homes.

Ecuador

$8,000 helps Fundación Brethren Y Unida (FBU) fund a school gardening and nutrition education program in Ecuador, a nation that has been experiencing rising food insecurity, political instability, and violence. In rural Pichincha, approximately 35 percent of children and adolescents suffer from chronic malnutrition, while access to nutritious food is limited due to dependence on processed products with low nutritional value. FBU is implementing a school gardening and nutrition education program for high school students at two schools involving organic farming on school grounds, teaching students to farm, while also providing a source of healthy food. Students and teachers will be trained in sustainable agriculture, nutrition, and food preparation.

Nigeria

$5,000 supported the Soybean Value Chain project of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria), a project of the denomination’s agriculture staff and Integrated Community Based Development Program (ICBDP). The GFI has supported the project since 2020, while also contributing to other soybean trainings and workshops prior to the present project. The Soybean Value Chain Project seeks to promote the awareness and cultivation of a valuable crop that can be processed into value-added, nutritious products that can be marketed and sold for income. This “value chain” seeks to alleviate poverty, increase incomes, and develop livelihoods for small-holder farmers. This grant provides sustaining support for the project’s Volunteer Extension Agents with a yearly stipend for 15 agents.

Pennsylvania

$3,410 to the Alpha and Omega Community Center in Lancaster supported its Food Bank Ministry, helping to fund food purchases and a new air conditioner for the room where the ministry takes place. The center was started by Alpha and Omega Church of the Brethren and also is supported by several other congregations in Atlantic Northeast District. The Food Bank Ministry serves nearly 100 families (approximately 500 to 600 individuals) each month, seeking to ensure that each household receives a balanced and nutritious variety of food. A portion of the grant–$2,500–funded the acquisition of essential food items from the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, with $910 for the purchase and installation of a new air conditioning unit for the multi-purpose room used for food distribution, educational workshops, and congregational activities (including Vacation Bible School).

$2,500 supported Hatfield Church of the Brethren’s food pantry serving an average of 134 families per month, representing some 624 individuals. Food pantry clients are able to select their own groceries, providing them with the dignity of choice in a time of hardship. Due to governmental cuts, the church food pantry does not have enough food coming in to provide for the families in need. This grant supports direct purchase of beef, chicken, frozen fish products, fresh produce, and other food needs, offsetting some of that shortfall.

$2,500 supported the Mountaineers’ Table Ministry of Ephrata Church of the Brethren. The ministry provides food to 120 families on a weekly basis. The program buys and sources food from Central PA Food Bank, a farmers’ market, and other local farmers and suppliers as they are able, with help from grants and donations from local organizations and individuals. Ephrata Church of the Brethren provides all of the program overhead and the ministry is run by volunteers. The families in the program all have children who qualify for free or reduced lunches at school. This grant supports the purchase of affordable protein options including nut butters and meat.

#MissionAndMinistryBoard #StrategicPlan #RacialJustice #LoveOurNeighbors #Discipleship #NewTestamentGiving

———-

Find more Church of the Brethren news: