Looking to address hunger in your community? Congregations are invited to apply for a Global Food Initiative (GFI) grant to support efforts to address domestic hunger and homelessness.
The Church of the Brethren’s Global Food Initiative (GFI) has issued a recent round of grants supporting work for food security and related needs including $15,000 for purchase of farmland in Uganda, $6,470 for a well project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, $825 for a farming project of the emerging Tanzania Church of the Brethren, $5,000 in continued support for the Soybean Value Chain project of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria, and $15,000 for the Wings of Blessing and Hope Farm Poultry Project of ASIGLEH, the Church of the Brethren in Venezuela.
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.
Jennifer Hosler has been hired by the Church of the Brethren as part-time manager of the Global Food Initiative (GFI), in the Global Mission office. She begins working for the GFI as a remote employee from Washington, D.C., on April 22.
A last round of grants for the year 2023 were given from three funds of the Church of the Brethren: the Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF–support this ministry with donations at https://churchofthebrethren.givingfuel.com/bdm); the Global Food Initiative (GFI–support this ministry with donations at https://churchofthebrethren.givingfuel.com/gfi); and the Brethren Faith in Action Fund (BFIA–see www.brethren.org/faith-in-action).
In mid-summer, due to distressing weather conditions, the prospect for the 30 acres of corn that make up the 2023 Polo Growing Project appeared bleak. But at harvest in mid-October, the results were no less than astonishing, the crop yielding an average of 247.5 bushels per acre. Net proceeds for the project stand at $45,500, a notch above last year’s near-record earnings of $45,000.
The Church of the Brethren’s Global Food Initiative (GFI) has announced a series of grants supporting a new Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS) position in Ecuador, agricultural training in Mexico and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a community garden and soup kitchen in Alaska, and a water project in Burundi.
The trip was a fact-finding visit and a chance to learn more about the agriculture and business initiatives of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). We had opportunities to discuss and assess the possibilities of EYN’s idea to open a government-recognized seed business to serve farmers in northeast Nigeria.
Jeff Boshart has resigned as manager of the Church of the Brethren’s Global Food Initiative (GFI) effective Dec. 29. He has held the position, which includes managing the GFI fund as well as the Emerging Global Mission Fund, for more than 11 years, since March 2012.
From June 9-11, as part of an ongoing attempt by the Global Mission office of the Church of the Brethren in the US to encourage unity and reconciliation in the Church of the Brethren in the Dominican Republic (Iglesia de los Hermanos Republica Dominicana), retired pastor Alix Sable of Lancaster, Pa., and Global Food Initiative (GFI) manager Jeff Boshart met with church leaders.
