Grants from the Church of the Brethren’s Global Food Initiative (GFI) are supporting food distribution to the Hispanic community in Lancaster, Pa., agriculture micro-projects by the Church of the Brethren in Venezuela, a community garden project of the Church of the Brethren in Spain, and sustainable agriculture education in Burundi.
The Global Food Initiative (GFI) of the Church of the Brethren has given a number of grants in recent weeks, in order to support a Soybean Value Chain project in Nigeria, a church-based community gardening effort in Ecuador, a work-study opportunity in Ecuador for trainees from Venezuela, a vegetable production workshop in Uganda, and a community garden in North Carolina.
No doubt you’ve heard these words a few times. The salesman making his pitch, the magazine/TV/Internet advertisement–always with the guarantee that this book (or whatever product is being promoted) will be transformational. Quite likely you’ve heard it from your pastor, who was encouraging you to take the Bible more seriously. But one would hardly expect to hear this statement at a welding workshop.
Grants from the Church of the Brethren’s Global Food Initiative (GFI) are supporting the attendance of three Church of the Brethren leaders at a symposium on sustainable agriculture and appropriate technologies in Tanzania, repair of a vehicle owned by the agriculture department of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria), and Capstone 118’s outreach in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans.
Frequent hurricanes, political instability, high crime rates, and deforestation are just a few of the challenges to successful development work in Honduras. The Church of the Brethren’s Global Food Initiative (GFI) is supporting an urban chicken project with a local church partner, Viviendo en Amor y Fe (VAF, Living in Love and Faith).
H. Lamar Gibble, 91, a former longterm staff member of the Church of the Brethren noted for his ecumenical work as Peace and International Affairs Consultant/Europe and Asia Representative, died on Oct. 29 in Elgin, Ill.
The latest round of grants from the Global Food Initiative (GFI) have been given to ministries of Churches of the Brethren in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for the Seed Projects; Rwanda, for purchase of a grain mill; and Venezuela, for agriculture micro-projects. For more about the GFI and to contribute financially to these grants, go to www.brethren.org/gfi.
The Church of the Brethren’s Global Food Initiative sponsored a workshop on dry season farming in Gitega, Burundi, July 11-12
The Global Food Initiative (GFI), a Church of the Brethren fund, has made several grants in these first months of 2022. Funds are supporting agricultural efforts of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) and La Fundación Brethren y Unida (FBU-the United and Brethren Foundation), a training workshop related to THARS (Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Services) in Burundi and Eglise des Freres au Congo (the Church of the Brethren in the Democratic Republic of Congo or DRC), and a number of church-related community gardens.
Chris Elliott, a farmer and pastor from Pennsylvania, and his daughter Grace are serving in Rwanda from January to May 2022, working on behalf of the Church of the Brethren Global Mission. Chris Elliott is helping with farming and also visiting other churches and projects in Rwanda and nearby countries. Grace Elliott is teaching in the nursery school of the Church of the Brethren in Rwanda. Here is a reflection on their experience:
