Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service -- April 14, 2008 Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, News Director 800-323-8039 ext. 260 -- cobnews@brethren.org
CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN IS LEAD SPONSOR FOR FARM PROGRAM IN NICARAGUA
(April 14, 2008) Elgin, IL -- The Church of the Brethren is to be the lead sponsor of the Rio Coco farm program in Nicaragua, through the Foods Resource Bank and Church World Service (CWS) in partnership with the Church of the Brethren's Global Food Crisis Fund.
The project will establish the Rio Coco Demonstration Farms in an area of Nicaragua that borders Honduras, with the help of a Global Food Crisis Fund grant of $35,000 for the first year of the program. The funding will come from the Global Food Crisis Fund's growing project accounts in the Foods Resource Bank.
Eight demonstration farms will heighten the food security and health of the populace, which is largely Meskito. Funding for one demonstration farm has been arranged by the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee; the Church of the Brethren will be the lead sponsor for three other demonstration centers.
Each demonstration farm will enlist 10 participating groups from surrounding communities. From each group, six workers will train at the demonstration center, then return to their home communities to teach what they have learned to others. The demonstration center programs will deal with the production of grain, vegetables, trees, livestock, and vermiculture. Eventually, stores are to be opened at each center, operated by women from the participating communities.
Partnering with the Foods Resource Bank is Accion Medica Cristiana (AMC), which already has a central pharmacy in Waspan, the main municipality, and a hundred small "box" pharmacies in outlying villages. AMC has been aligned with Foods Resource Bank in the Farmer to Farmer program in Nicaragua.
The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to continuing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its faith in community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith traditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrates its 300th anniversary in 2008. It counts almost 130,000 members across the United States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Nigeria, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and India.
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For more information contact:
Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford Director of News Services Church of the Brethren General Board 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120 800-323-8039 ext. 260 cobnews@brethren.org
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