Tuesday, March 17, 2015

"Hope in a box"



What is Seeds of Hope?

The Seeds of Hope campaign is a program of Mission Without Borders in which thousands of poor families in Eastern Europe are provided with tools, training, and high quality seeds so that they can provide for their own food security as well as sell any abundance as they move toward self sufficiency.

Goals: To provide means for poor families to grow their own food, to boost their nutritional requirements and financial situations, and to motivate them for a more hopeful future.

The objective is to teach farming principals and entrepreneurial skills to enable poor families to move toward self sufficiency.  Allowing families to work for their expected harvest provides dignity as the family works together to enjoy the fruits of their labor.  The outcome is that good crops will improve the health and financial well being of the family and allow them to move from dependence to self reliance. (Mission Without Borders Australia)

The first phase of the annual Seeds of Hope campaign has already started in Bosnia and Herzegovina!  One Seeds of Hope parcel contains "5 kg of potatoes, 2 kg of onions, and packets of different vegetable seeds for salads, peas, beans, and carrots."(MWB Australia newsletter).  125 boxes have already been distributed to the Family to Family sponsored families in Mostar.  Others were given to churches to distribute according to need.  Another 125 boxes will be distributed in nearby communities and to local soup kitchens.  This will enable them to have fresh vegetables and food to serve guests in the Street Mercy program.

The second phase of this project will follow shortly when late-growth seeds will be distributed to families.  This is the fifth year of this program and the results have been really positive.  Families are strengthened as they work together, they are learning skills for self sufficiency, children are eating healthy meals throughout the year.  Many families are able to reap abundant harvests and sell the abundance in local markets.  This provides families with dignity and a tool to work themselves out of poverty.  Tomorrow I'll share one of their stories..

Can you provide a box of hope?  You can make a donation here!  Thanks for your help!  And did you know that when you use any of my Amazon links, you are helping as well?  I am saving this money ($75 so far!) and hope to use it to help my sponsored child in Moldova.  The minimum for a special project is $150 so I have more to raise but I'll definitely share details when this happens. Thanks!

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