Debra Carr-Elsing
The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin, USA)
A country church and a Madison church are working together to help farmers in Cambodia.
It started Saturday with the planting of soybeans on donated land in rural Brooklyn. Money from the harvest of those beans will be given to the Foods Resource Bank, an organization that teaches improved agricultural techniques in Third World countries.
"It's all about feeding hungry people," says Margaret Bogue, a Madison church member who's involved with the project.
On hand for the soybean planting day were church members from the First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1609 University Ave., and the Zwingli United Church of Christ -- the "country church" -- in Paoli.
The farm field is being donated by Dave and Katie Batker, members of the Paoli church. Jeff Rabe, Christian education director at the Madison church, is an organizer of the hunger project, along with Sara Theissen, pastor of the Paoli church.
"We're putting our resources together to produce this crop of soybeans," Bogue says.
"To avoid the expense of shipping grain overseas, this is a project that raises money for an interdenominational organization that seeks to help farmers learn how to grow more food for themselves."
The focus is on irrigation practices and other ways to increase rice production and improve the yields from vegetable gardens. Mulching is taught, along with better planting techniques and how to build fish ponds.
"It's appalling that more than 800 million people around the globe begin and end each day hungry," Bogue says.
Last year, a total of 200 growing projects in the United States -- similar to the Madison-Paoli effort -- raised $2 million in crop sales to support farming programs in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
"We chose the Cambodian project because it includes digging wells and improving supplies of water in seven rural villages in southern Cambodia," Bogue says.
World hunger, she adds, is a major problem that hasn't been properly addressed.
"If everyone starts to do a little to help solve the problem, big changes can happen for the better,'' she says.
People interested in donating money or helping in other ways with the Madison-Paoli planting project can call the office of First Congregational church at 233-9751.
It started Saturday with the planting of soybeans on donated land in rural Brooklyn. Money from the harvest of those beans will be given to the Foods Resource Bank, an organization that teaches improved agricultural techniques in Third World countries.
"It's all about feeding hungry people," says Margaret Bogue, a Madison church member who's involved with the project.
On hand for the soybean planting day were church members from the First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1609 University Ave., and the Zwingli United Church of Christ -- the "country church" -- in Paoli.
The farm field is being donated by Dave and Katie Batker, members of the Paoli church. Jeff Rabe, Christian education director at the Madison church, is an organizer of the hunger project, along with Sara Theissen, pastor of the Paoli church.
"We're putting our resources together to produce this crop of soybeans," Bogue says.
"To avoid the expense of shipping grain overseas, this is a project that raises money for an interdenominational organization that seeks to help farmers learn how to grow more food for themselves."
The focus is on irrigation practices and other ways to increase rice production and improve the yields from vegetable gardens. Mulching is taught, along with better planting techniques and how to build fish ponds.
"It's appalling that more than 800 million people around the globe begin and end each day hungry," Bogue says.
Last year, a total of 200 growing projects in the United States -- similar to the Madison-Paoli effort -- raised $2 million in crop sales to support farming programs in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
"We chose the Cambodian project because it includes digging wells and improving supplies of water in seven rural villages in southern Cambodia," Bogue says.
World hunger, she adds, is a major problem that hasn't been properly addressed.
"If everyone starts to do a little to help solve the problem, big changes can happen for the better,'' she says.
People interested in donating money or helping in other ways with the Madison-Paoli planting project can call the office of First Congregational church at 233-9751.
No comments:
Post a Comment